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Copyﬂghksd, 1851, by Bub“ um Ann". Enurad at. mu Po“ Ofﬁce gt. New York. N. In, an Second Cl Mall Matter.

Vol. XIV.

$2.50

Prlue,
a Year.

Published Weekly by Beadle and Adana,
Flvo Can“.

No. 98 WILLIAM Sm, NEW YORK.

“a now, BY norm!“ wwuumn m2: um: w w comwuovsu.

June 29. I887.

No. 180.

 
’ fearless could build a ﬁre on the bed of the lost

. I aikunce into his face.

 
9 ‘ The Boy Gold Hunter. .

 
—The Boy—Gold Hunter;

NAVAJO NICK’S SCOUT.

A TALE OF ARIZONA.

BY T. C. HARBAUGH,
AUTHOR or “NICK 0’ THE NIGHT," “HIDDEN
LODGE,” “ NIGHTINGALE NAT,” ETC.
CHAPTER I.

SOMEBODY’S SPY.

“I‘M comfortable here if I am alone. Their
prophecies thus far have provel useless words,
and it Black Mahomet keeps up his good gallop
a few days longer, I’ll ride safely into Mohave

,City none the worse for my long tramp. My
own mother wouldn’t recognize me coated with
alkali dust as I am, but then, she isn’t likely to
visit me in this wildsof Arizona. Well, I should
think not.”

The speaker a youth, smiled at his last re-
marks, and fell to surveying his travel-stained

rson revealed by the camp-lire which he had

indled in the basin of what once had been a
tributary of the Colorado.

Above him towered the banks of the name-
less canyon; the seemed to stretch to the stars
hard stone w unrelieved by a single chit.

p t.

The cold night winds blew down the gorge and
ﬂared the ﬂames of his ﬁre.

He was a stout, handsome youth of sixteen
or seventeen and his jaunty buckskin garments
which had been made by experienced. hands
ﬁtted his faultless ﬁgure to a nicety. A riﬂe lay
on the ground at his side, and read for instant
use in his belt were two heavy re vo ver. r '

’Black Mahomet, a lithelimbed charger, with
coal-black skin and a ﬁery eye, was a 0 reveal-
ed by the ﬂre. - The horse was the boy’s only
companion, and that the two were close friends,
the whinny given by the animal when his name
w spoken attested: 3 _

at, what was the boy domg aloue‘in the In-
dian country of Northern Arizona?

We have already heard him say that in a few
days he expected to reach Mohave City which
was far west of his solitar ﬁre. The Navajo
country was behind 111mm. ut ahead, between
him and his goal, was a veritable land of death,-
the abode of the savage and the grizzly.

A heart that shrunk from danger had no busi.
ness where the young traveler was. Only the

river, and laugh while contemplating his alkali-
coated garments. ’

The boy’s laugh was full of hope, good nature,
and buoyant s nuts, and whileit yet sounded on
the leasant a of night, the horse thrust his
has over his master’s shoulder and looked

“ Two better friends never traveled together
than you and I, Mahomotl” said the boy, notic-
ing this display of affection on the part of his
teed; “one of these days, if my lead pans out as

gilded oats, and build ou a palace for our
abode. But all leads on’t pan out ric in
Arizona. I’ve been a witness to the truth of
that statement, and so have you, old chaP_
Nine out of ten prove to be chimneys. Wen
hope, however, that ours milky prove a bonanza,
and it will, I’m thinking, ' 1m following the
right skein.”

The boy paused rather suddenly, for the horse
had raised 's head, with his long sharp ears on
the alert like a fox’s.

“ What is it, Mahomet? A prowling grizzly
or a thieving coyote?” asked the youth, picking
up the riﬂe and steppin back into the shadow
of a bowlder on which be ad deposited the small
amount of baggage he was carrying on his jour~
ne .

X moment later he became convinced that it
was neither, for a rough voice assailed his lis-
tenin ears: _

“Hillo thar, stranger? Ef ye‘r’ standm’ in
the shudders whar I can’t see ye, you've got the
advantage ov one ov the lost arts. I’m perfect-

ly harmless, cz docile oz a kitten, an’ it stands a
teller in hand to be kinder indulgent to his
species in this part 0v creation." '

There was certainly nothing in this quaint
and comical language that proclaimed the pm
ence of an enemy, and the box ste pod partly
into the ﬁre-light. But he kept his er at the
tri orer of his riﬂe.

‘ a‘ome forward until I can see you,” he said
to the unseen. “ You may be the harmless in-
dividual you call yourself, but I’m not taking
any chances.”

‘Thet’s right; you ought to hev a leather
medal for yer prudence,” responded the mice a
little nearer than before. “ So hyar I come, not
exactly a conquerin’ here, nor at mph ov light;
but one ov the lost arts." ,

The oung traVeler, still further emboldened .-
by the ast words, approached nearer to his ﬁre,
and fixed his eyes on the ueer character sub-
mitted to his inspection. T '3 person was tall,
raw-boned, swarthy and uncouth. His sleeves
seemed a mile too short and the wrists that
their shortness revealed were the color of a
inummy’s skin. His torn pantaloons were thrust
into a. pair of well—worn cowhide boots, several
tufts of reddish hair protruded from rents in a
dilapidated hat, and his face was covered with a
few days’ growth of sand . «beard. But above
his cheeks a pair of eyes g 'trsred like the orbs
of a basilisk; they were restless, penetrating
and cunning. --

The stran er was no fool, at any rate. so
thought the y. . .

His only wea n was a lopg-barreled riﬂe
which rested in t o hollow of his left arm as he
came forward. The boy seeing this removed
his ﬁnger from the trigger of his weapon and
the two stood face to ace in the light of the
ﬁre. .

u A boy, by hokey 1” ejaculated the Ian]: man,
half contemptuouslynﬂnd he stepped back to .
survey his new uaintance.

“‘1, did expect see a man, ’p‘on my soul I

idl .
“ So did I!" retorted the be a me ﬂash in
his bright eyes. “What do 53:2»; wi’imm

 
R
it ought to, I’ll be rich enough to feed you

“ Me? I’m one 0v the lost arts, Th 3 no 588°

  
The Boy Gold Hunter. 3’

 
brush about me! I’m the Boss Cactus ov Ari-
zona. When I say thet I'm one ov the lost arts,
1 mean thet the soil ‘thet produced me hezn’t
own a thing since I left it. Look at me, boy.
’m handsome enough to be Cupid, an’ travel—
stained enou h tobe one ov the lost tribes ov
Izra’l; but I’ ruther be the Boss Cactus than
the hull compoodle I’ve mentioned.”
The ﬁgure before the boy seemed to increase
in stature as thweaker ﬁnished, and the

youn traveler g at him in silence for a
minu .

“ Whar ar’ you steerin’ furl” the Cactus asked,
suddenly.

_ The boy hesitated; the glittering eyes noticed

it.
“ Ef you don’t want to tell, all right 1” their
owner said.
“ I’m going to Mohave City !“ the boy said,
deciding at that moment.
‘ Did the little eyes sparkle with more inten-
sity?
“ Mohave, eh? War goin’ thar myself,” ejacu-

lated the Cactus. “ No ’bjections to company, I
hope?”
‘ Are you alone?"

For the ﬁrst time the newcomer smiled.

“ Ruther!” he answered, laconically, and then
added: “ The Boss Cactus 'nerally travels in
his own company. In fact, e thinks it the best
he kin ﬁnd in Arizona. Goin’ to Mohave on
business?”

“ Perhaps.”

N am.)

The boy gzve the Cactus an inguisitive glance.
He seemed think: what kind 0 business could
induce that queer specimen of humanity to seek
a community supposed to be civilized?

Without invitation the Cactus had seated him-
self on the stone which the youthful adventurer
had rolled to the ﬁre for a seat, and the boy,
yith a grimace at this independence, accepted a
place on the ground.

By deng the twain thus strangely met be-
came be ter ac uainted. The stories which the
Cactus spun a at the wild country in which
th ‘ were gradual] drew the b0 out, and he
sai that he wasa la resident of a ava 0 camp,
where he was known as Navajo Nick. his in-
formation seemed to settle a few dou that
had lingered in the new-comer’s mind, an from
that moment his tongue became less noisy.

Navajo Nick gradually formed a favorable
impression of his guest, d ite the latter's un-
couthness, and the provis ons which he was
about to attack when he appeared, he no longer
hesitated to share with him.

But before the Cactus acce ted the invitation
to supper, he started up, an glancing at the
boy exclaimed: ‘

"War it the leagnov a coyote, boy?”

Nick confessed t t he had heard nothing.

“ Mebbe I didn‘t either,” responded the man.
‘f But, stay h at till I investigate,” and before
the boy can! remonstrate he darted down the
canyon.

“ I didn’t hear a sound,” mused our traveler.
“ Neither did Black Mahomet, and his ears are
as sharp as that man’s. A ctﬁyute always rousss
ﬁylhprse; he hears every 113. Now look at

\

 
Navajo Nick spoke as if he addressed a second
person when in reality he was talking to him-
self. The horse had not heard the sound which
had disturbed the Boss Cactus; he stood with
drooping head just beyond the line of light, and
ap arently asleep.

fter a minute’s reﬂection the boy followed
the Cactus. He seemed very inquisitive if not
suspicious, for he carried a cocked revolver in
his hand as he crept along the canyon’s wall.

He soon got be 0nd the light of his camp-ﬁre,
and the only ligh now afforded was that which
came down from the stars overhead.

It was not sufﬁcient to enable him to distin-

ish objects at a rest distance; but it showed

'm the ﬁgure of 's strange guest about thirty
feet away.

The man had not seen him, for he was taking
something that made {a strange noise from his

. m.

Navajo Nick held his breath.

A moment later the Cactus held a pigeon in
his hand, and the boy saw that he was fasten-
ing something that ilittered like pollshed tin
around the bird’s nec .

“I have enemies!” muttered Navajo Nick.
“ He is sendin a message to them; the igeon
will tell them t at he has f: und me. A ! you
old rascal! I must outwit you i” '

At that moment the bird left the man's hand, i
and after ﬂuttering a few seconds above his
head shot upward and seemed to disappear
among the stars.

The boy’s eyes ﬂashed while he saw the Cac-
tus watching the ﬂight of his messenger.

“I ought to end your part of the 1game here,”
fell from his lips. “But no! I wil watch you
till I ﬁnd out who in enemies are and then—
then— Ah! I guess avajo Nick is ableto take
care of himself!” _

The boy glided hack to the ﬁre as noiselessly
as he had come to the spot. and had composed
himself, when the Cactus returned.

“Well?” >

“ lt war a prowlin’ coyote iZest as I expected.
My ears never fail me. I 'n hear a snake
crawl.”

Nick’s eyes glittered with triumph. “Your
ears deceived you tonight, traitor. You did
not hear me.”

The Cactus resumed his seat at the ﬁre while
his eyes twinkled with satisfaction. Navajo
Nick secretly watched him until be stretched
his]; ungainly ﬁgure on the ground and fell
as eep.

The boy pretended to follow his example, but
he ﬁ‘adually rolled from the ﬁre and reached
his orse

“Mohave City ﬁrst!” he muttered. “I must
take no chances now with the man who sends
carrier pigeons to my enemies. Once in M0-
have, I can defy them all.”

He noiselessly muﬁled Black Mahornet‘s feet .
and saddled him. The Cactus still lay at the

re.

“Good-by, plotter!" the boy threw over his
shoulder at the sleeper as he put his hand on the
saddle to mount. »

The next moment he was startled by a rough
veice.

“ Goin’ away, ehi’.’

 
4 The Boy Gold Hunter.

 
He looked toward the ﬁre, and saw the Cactus
wide awake, with his little eyes ﬁxed on him!
“Yes, I’m going away. Stay back or diet”
exclaimed the boy, vaulting into the saddle.
The Boss Cactus merely laughed.

CHAPTER II.
FOLLOWED BY A HORSE.

NEAR. the close of a certain day exactly one
week after the events just described a coal-black
horse gallo d into Mohave City.

Several ndian arrows were sticking in the
animal’s ﬂesh, and the rider that reeled in his
saddle had one of the shafts in his shoulder.

The horsc was stopped by a crowd of bronzed
men congregated on one of the streets of the
Arizonian town, and strong arms lifted the In-
dian-chased youth from the saddle.

He was placed tenderly on the ground under
the boughs of an oak near by, and ﬁfty rough—
looking fellows gathered about him.

Exhaustion and pain had produced a swoon,
and the boy lay like one dead before the men of
Mohave.

But the hands of a stalwart person called
“ Doc,” b some, brought the young adventurer
through is syncope safely, and several ex-
clamations of satisfaction greeted the return to
consciousness.

For several minutes the youth gazed search—
ineg into the faces above him, as if he were
seeking a particular one, and then a Sigh of dis—
appointment escaped him. _ I

“ Lookin’ fur anybody in partlc’lar?” asked
several.

“ Yes—for Dagobert.”

“Dagohert?” echoed ten men at once, but in
diﬂ‘erent tones. “Thar’s no sich man in M0-
have.” _ _ ‘

The youth—Navajo Nick—sighed again and
closed his eyes.

“Dagobert—not—here?” he murmured, slow-
ly. “He said he would be. Ah! without him
1 fear I will not be able to strike 1t rich.”

vae bystanders heard none of this. The ar-
row had been drawn from the boy’s shoulder,
and one-half of the crowd were inspecting it.

“ A Navajo shaft, by hoke i" exclaimed sev-
eral, and their eyes wander to the boy.

“ Chased you, eh?”

u Yes.”

“ ngh to Mohave?” ‘

“ I don’t know when they gave up the chase;
but I do know that if it hadn‘t been for Black
Mahomet, I’d not be here alive.”

“ How many red-skins war thar?”

“About thirty. I emptied my revolvers
among them. I know that.”

“ War they so nigh as that?”

“ The ﬁrst intimation I had of their presence
was a 19,580 that fell over my head, and tight-
ened around 'my shoulders. It was near the
mouth of Red Canyon. Black Mahomet saved

‘ ’me then. He sprung forward just as the lasso
tightened and actually erked it from the In-
dian’s hands. Fortunate y I was well seated at
that time, and had a ﬁrm grip on the rein. I
fumed in my saddle then an gave'the sneak-
ing whelps all the ready ammummon that I

possessed. They retreated, and seizing the op-
portunity,‘ I struck out for Mohave. Then I
got my arrow.”

"‘ An’ yer hoss, tool”

:2 is ligahomet dead?” asked the boy, starting.

0.

“ Good! Black Mahomet is the biggest bonanza
in horseﬂesh a man ever owned.”

“ Whar did you leave yer lasso—the one the
reddies gave ou?”

“I tore it oose and cast it aside at the out-
set gf the chase. I don’t like that kind of neck-
tie.

“ It’s all the rage ’twixt hyar an’ the Navajo
keutry,” said a man, and this coarse wit pro-
duced a. boisterous laugh from the crowd.

“I can’t tell you anything more about my
tussle with the Navajoes,” said Nick, tr ing to
rise, but falling back with a groan. “ didn’t
think I was so weak,” he added, smiling; “but
a little rest will ﬁx me up. So you don't know
Dagobert?”

“ Never heard ov ’im.”

“ That‘s bad. I am Without a friend here.”

“You kin soon make ’em.”

b “tB”ut not the kind I want—not like Dugo-
er .

That name seemed to mystify the men of Mo-

have, and while they were discussing it in low

voices, a veritable giant, whose face was covered ~

with a heavy black beard, made his way to
where the boy reclined.

“The young ’un needs a softer bed than the
ground,” he said, stooping and putting his great
arms around the wounded boy. “ I’ve ﬁxed up
a sort of a place in my shanty fur ’im. an’ I’ll
jest tote ’im over an’ see how he likes it.”

The man’s action seemed to win the crowd.

“Three cheers fer Captain Flash!” yelled a.
voice, and three lusty cheers rent the air.

Navajo’s cheek touched the leonine heard of
the man while he was being carried to the place
prepared for his reception, and he murmured 0.
thousand thanks as he was placed on a couch
whose beddin consisted of several blankets. ‘

A strange ight burned in the man’s eyes
when he shut the door of his cabin and turned
to the boy. The room was quite gloomy, but
through a little window just above the cot the
last , ams of day struggled, revealed, but
diml , his reserver and his surroundings.

Ca tain lash took a seat beside the boy. ,

“ ou forgot my last instructions,” he said,
a reprimand in his tone.

Nick started and stared into the hairy face.

“ Your instructions?” he echoed. ‘ I don’t
understand you :”

“ You asked for Dagobert.”

ﬂ Yes.” i

“ You were to inquire for one who bore an
entirely different name when you came. You
nearly gave me away!”

The boy could hardly repress a cry.

“ Then—” ,

“ I am Dagobert!” ,

h Navajo Nick sprung up and put out his
an

d.
“A thousand thanks. You are Dagobert my
friend and partner.” ~
“ Here I am Captain Flash. Dagobert died

 
when 1 came here, and Flash war born.” ' \ 5

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The Boy Gold Hunter.

5

 
“I understand,” said the boy. “I will re
member.”

“ I trust 50.”

“Knowing you so long as Dagobert, it was
but natural that that name should be the ﬁrst
to ﬂash through my brain after my swoon.”

Ca tam Flash nodded impatiently.

“ on war not to seek me until you had dis-
covered the secret,” he said while his eyes
sparkled With devouring eagerness.

“I have kept my part of the bargain,” an—
swered the boy.

“ Then the secret is yours?”

“ It belongs to us.”

08. tain Flash drew a long breath of supreme
satis action.

“Death laid his hands on Alapatha’s heart-
strin , at last?” he exclaimed.

“ e is today the deadest Indian in Arizona.”
smiled the boy.

“Tell me.”

“It is a short story. Ten words will en-
lighten you, Alapatha met a bear that con-
quered him. I came up in time to slay the
animal, but too late to save the chief He told
me the secret before he died. I know where
the mountain of gold is. I didn’t lose a word
of the chief’s instructions. I can repeat every
one now. He always said that I should have
the secret; but if I had not come up in the nick
of time he would have carried it with him. He
gave me this map, too.” i

“ A close shave, by my eyes!” ejaculated
Flash. “ And you left at once?” ’

“ That night!”

“ An’ you war follered?”

“Not by the Indians at ﬁrst.” said Nick,
studying his companion’s anxious face, and then
he went on and related the visit of the Boss
Cactus to the lone camp in Nameless Canyon.

Captain Flash listened with interest to the
close of the narrative.

“ Whatdo you think of it?” asked Nick, break-
irtxg the strange silence which had followed his
s ry.

The man started from his reverie.

“When can you start?” he said, not payng
the slightest attention to the boy’s interrogative
sentence.

“ At any time,” he answered.

“ With thet shoulder?”

“Yes. It doesn’t hurt now.”

Captain Flash sprung up. satisﬁed. He went
to the little window and looked out. Navajo
Nick raised himself and watched the mnn who
seemed to be studying the stars. All pain had
left him: he felt strong a min, for had he not
found Dagobert, his frien , his partner? _ V
d Captain Flash turned suddenly from the Will‘

ow.

“Wait ﬁve minutes fer me hyar,” he said,
striding to the door, and the next moment Nick
was alone.

“So Dagobert has become Captan Flash! I
must not for et that,” he murmured. “ We will
attend to Aapatha’s secret; the mountain of
gold belongs to Dagobert and me. But Idid
not tell him that it is in the midst of the Indian
country. Pshaw! what if I had? He would
have laughed. We are going away from Mo-

have tonight. I am sure we arel”
. ' \‘

_ The boy, while he spoke thus, noticed a bril-
hant star that peeped in at the window. All
at once it disappeared. He knew that no cloud
ht:de covered it, for the rainy season had not
se in.

As he looked he seemed to make out the out-
lines of‘ a face at the window; he rose and slip-
ped forward.

His eyes had not deceived him; a face was at
the window; but before he had gazed at it a.
moment, the captain reappeared.

“ N ow fer the bonanza. The bosses ar’ ready,”
he said. ‘

At that instant the head at the window drop-»
ped out of sight.

Ten minutes later Captain Flash and Nick
drew rein in a narrow gulch, half a mile north v
of Mohave.

“ Whar shall we strike fer?” whispered the
captain.

‘For the mouth of Navajo Canyon.”

“ A good hundred mile from hyar!”

“ At least that,” the boy responded.

“Ar’ the mountain nigh it?”

“ No; but our nearest way is by the canyon.”

“ Wal, hyar goes into the Injun death-lands,
with the bi gest secret 0v the century!”

They al oped through the gulch, and once
more r 6 under the brilliant stars.

Suddenly Ca tain Flash drew rein and whip:
ped out one of Bis brass-butted revolvers.

“ We’ve got to begin killin’ at the start,” he
said grimly, as he glanced at the boy gold-hum
ter

“ What do you mean?”

“We’re l'ollrredl” '

Nick thought of the face at the window.
Might it nut have been the homely phiz of the
Boss Cactus? ‘

Telling Nick to remain where he had drawn
rein, the captain rode back. The boy cocked
his revolvers and listened for his companion.

All at once Dagobert rea] peared at his side.

“ Well?” began Nick.

“We 'war follered by a horse thet hed no
rider,” was the response. “I frightened him
back.’

A horse without a rider? Nick appeared mys-
tiﬁed; the ansWer did not place him entirely at
his ease.

They went on again until Dagobert drew rein
with a resounding oath.

“ That horse again i” ejaculated Nick.

“Pshaw! what’s the use 0v foolin’ with ’im.
We’ll lose ’im at daylight. Why didn’t I think
of thet ufore?” and Dagobert’s spurs made his
horse bound forward.

The hoof—beats behind them continued as they
gniloperl on. The captain did not seemto hear
them, but not one escaped the young golds
seeker’s ears. ~

He could not think that a riderless; horse
would follow them so persistently.

His surmises were correct.

 
The horse behind them had a master!

 
CHAPTER III.
TWELVE or A KIND.
“ WHERE are we now, captain?“

 
“ What! don’t you know? .

 
6 I r The Boy Gold Euntor.‘

 
“Not exactly, but near Navajo Canyon, I

ho .”

ReWe’re not a thousand miles from it, that’s
sart’in. We are in the Black Forest, between
Aztec Pass and Mount Bill Williams. I

“ Then we can't be far from our ﬁrst halting
placo.”

“ Nigher than you think boy."

Dagobert had spoken truly when he informed
Navajo Nick that they had reached the Black
Forest Mountains, one hundred miles from Mo-
have. The had crossed the Aquarius Range,
swum the ill Williams Fork of the Colors 0,
galloped through the lonely Aztec Pass, and
were now among the densely wooded hills that
constitute the famous Black Forest.

This journey had taken up several days and

. nights, and Nick longed for the time when he
could throw himself from the Wearying saddle,
and, as he expressed it. “ try it on foot. ’

Captain Flash, the Man with two Names, was
not tired, but only eager. A strange impatience
seemed to devour him. A thousand times dur-
ing the trip he had covertly caught Nick re-
garding him out of the corners of his eyes as if
he half suspected his display of ﬁdelity.

But the boy surely could not suspect the man
who was sharing the golden secret imparted by
the dying chief.

“I am wrong in suspecting Dagobert,” he
would sayto himself. “I must trust him un-
til he has been tried. Besides, have I not placed
myself in his power? And then I saw him tried
four years ago."

During the three nights which had passed
since their departure from Mohave, Nick had
more than once imagined that he heard the
hoof-heats of the strange horse; but as Dago-
bert did not seem to hear the noise he said noth-
ing to him.

Could it be that an enemy—a spy—was still

‘ following them? ,

All at once, on the night when the conversa-
tion that opens the present chapter occurred,
Da obert turned to the boy.

8 eyes of the giant had a strange ﬂash in

em. .

“ Comin’ still, Navajo!” he said.

“Certainly. He’s followed us from Mohave.
I’ve heard h In every night.”

' “ You hev? Then why didn’t you post me?”
“ Because I thought you heard the same
' sounds.”

“ I war thinkin’. plannin’. I heard nuthin‘.”

When Dagobert paused the two listened, but
the unknown trailer had stopped.

“When we stop he am also,” whispered
Nick. “ Captain, I should ve told you so ev
thing before this. I have ke t it back fr
fear of being laughed at. t horse has a
rider.” _ r

Captain Flash did not start. He seemed to say
with his eyes. “ I’m of that opinion, too.” .

“ That rider is my enemy’s spy—the Boss
Cactus.”

That unsealed Dagobert’s lips.

“ How do you know!” he said.

“I saw him at your window before we left
Mohave.”

,The Man with Two Names slid from his horse,
drawing his revolver as he did so.

    
“ Take my boss an’ go on straight ahead,” he
said to Nick. “I’ve got some private business
with the Boss Cactus.’

Navajo Nick moved forward, lead’ Dagho-
bert's horse, and his ears were set to ear t o
hoof-beats behind him, and not for noises in

rout.

Suddenly a wild peal of laughter struck his
ears. He drew rein as if the laugher had

'ven vent to his humor directly under his

orse’s hoofs. But he had not. The sound came
from a little valley into which the boy was
about to descend.

He looked anxiously over his shoulder as if he
could pierce the uncertain moonlight and call
Dagobert back. He hoped that his friend had
heard that Ian h.

“ Who hugged? you, Navajo?” suddenly said
a voice at his side, and Nick was looking down
into the giant’s hairy face. “It came up from
below, didn’t it? We]. we’ll go down and let
our trailer go fur the present." .

The descent of the mountain, although difﬁ-
cult, was soon accom lished, and when once in
the nameless valley ow, Captain Flash uttered
an exclamation of surprise.

“ Hyar’s the last place whar I expected to ﬁnd
a tavern l” he said.

" A tavern?” echoed Nick, opening his eyes.

A re ly was not needed, for Dagobert had al-
ready lted before a large and uncouth shanty,
through whose cracks and open door came
laughter, oaths, and snatches of drunken song.

“ A nest of wolves,” said the boy.

“ Or men-grimlies ” added Dagobert, and then
in a lower tone: “ hey’re too near the bonanza
to be left hyar without inspection. They may
be in these parts fer a p “ ’

Nick instantly thought of the carrier pigeon
set free by the Cactus. 'ght it not have home
the spy’s measage to this mountain den‘l '

Bis reﬂections, however, were soon cut short,
for Dagobert had slid to the ground.

“ Stay thar till I want you," he commanded.

Nick watched the burly ﬂ ure of his com -
ion as it approached the s anfLy, and he] his
breath as it crossed the threshol 1

For a moment the laughter continued, and
then it ceasedas if a ghost had entered the place.
Da obert had disappeared. .K

I the young gold-hunter had peeped into the
shanty he would have Seen ten or twelve wild‘
looking men staring at the burly intruder, who
had ventured to disturb their revel. More than
one bronzed hand rested on the butts of cocked
ﬁevlglvers, or touched the hilts of the Armenian

ir .

It was a striking tableau. i

There was one noticeable feature about these
men which the captain could, not fail to notice.
The were dressed alike, dark brown shirts and
co uroy pantaloons held up by wide leathem
belts which contained their weapons. Not onl
were they clad alike, but on the breast of one
man was the sign of some mystic order—a. re-
volver crossed b a bowie.

“ Hello!” cri one at last. “ Ar' ou huntin’
our ‘ ﬂnd?‘ Wal. we’re glad to git r d (N ’er.”

Dagobert did not seem to nnderstand.

“ I’m huntin’ whatever I kin ﬁnd,” hammer-
ed. “ V ’s yours?” ‘

a... m”... n._.«.._..ax;;-Msm~w_.__ M‘Au,‘

  
33!?

 
El'he Boy‘ Gold Hu liter.  ’3

 
The men exchanged glances.

“Bring ’er out!’ ordered the leader of the
twelve to some one behind him.

“ Don’t touch mel I am here.”

Dagober-t was seen to start as a girlish ﬁgure
leaped from a. corner behind several men, and
halted in the middle of the room to stare at

1m.

“ Oh, Heaven! you are no better than my res-
cuers,” she exclaimed. “You are a wolf that
belongs to another band. ”

The men burst into a ﬁt of coarse laughter at

Dagobert’s expense.
‘ But I’m a stra wolf,” he answered, ad-
dressing himself to 9 girl, although he glanced

at the same time at the roughs before him.
“Whar did you come from?”

There must have been a gleam in Dagobert’s
eyes that instantly won the girl. She came
forward with a good deal of conﬁdence.

“I .am the survivor of our little train. The
Navajoes attacked us- they ln'lled all but me
with their arrows, and I would not be here alive
if these men had not come up.”

“ They saved you; stay with them," said
Dagobert.

“ No! nol You are going away from here.
Take me with you!”

It was an appeal which only aAheart of stone
could have resrsted.

“ I’ll take your ﬁnd,” speaking to the men.

“ All right. We don’t want ’er. Which way
. ar’ {vou goin’?”

“ ortheast.”

“ Alone l”

Da obert did not hesitate.

“ one I” he answered.

At that moment one of the men who had
been leaning carelessly against one side of the
room was seen to start. He turned half—way
round as if he had received a communication
from some person on the outside.

A_ stride took him to the leader of the band;
their eyes met. ‘

Daoobert pushedthe girl toward the door.

_ I he whispered scarcely movin his
LI ' g
lips. Find my boy pard; mount and ﬂy with
him. I command it i”

The girl gave Dagobert a look and slipped
away.

She had hardl disa red when the head of
the band said: y ppea

“ You are Ca tain Flash, from Mohave.”

' Dagobert di not start; he seemed to be ex-
pecting such an accusation.

‘ “ You are not here alone,” he continued In the
same accusing tone. “ A boy is waiting for you
outside.”

"‘ The ca tain’s eyes ﬂashed deﬁantly.

“ So t 6 Boss Cactus has just told you i” he
said calmly. ‘ '

It was the men’s turn to startnow, and re-
volvers glided from their belts. _ '

“ The pigeon found you, I guess. but it dldn’t

 
tell you old Alapatha’s secret. Not much I”

A grin lifted Dagobert‘s mustache; his eyes
were twinkling merrily—laughmg stars they
seemed.

“ Don’t go back on the pigeon,” he continued,
seeing that his allusion tothe Cactus’s messenger

created a sensation. “ I know it war sent,

 
an’ you got the message, too. I am Cap’n Flash
from Mohave. I am hyar alone now !" ‘

Now i? That meant that the person who had
been waiting for him had departed.

The Marked Shirts understood him and start-
ed for the door.

“ Not yeti” warned Dagobert, quietly, but
with a ﬁrmness that conveyed a threat to his au-
dience. “ You can’t leave this shanty now.”

His long arms left his side as he spoke, and
the mountain band looked into the muzzles "of
his deadly revolvers.

“ I never kill only when 1 hev to ” were the
words that passed between the leveled weapons.
“ I possess the faculty ov nsin’ two revolvers at
once, an’ killin’ with each. Lift one ov er
Weepins an" I’ll Show you how I do it. I di n’t
l’arn the art in Mohave. I could shoot before I
saw its shanties, ez one man before me knows.”

He did not single out the man referred to, not
even by a glance; but the band with one accord
looked at their leader. He had grown pale
abovo his rough beard, and his eyes were glaring
tigerishl at Dagobert. '

“ Good-ibyl” said the Man with Two Names.
“We’ll meet ag’in. I kin shoot over in shoul-
der ez if I hed an eye in the back of my eﬁdl”

He stepped deliberately from the door as he
ﬁnished, and not a pistol was lifted to bring him

Own.

The mountain band seemed unnerved or thuno
derstruck. '

“ Thunder 1’" suddenly cried a man who sprun
into the shanty. “ What use hez all my spyin
been? You’ve let ’em both git away.”

It was the Boss Cactus of Arizona.

A bowl of vengeance almost shook the roof
of the building as the wild men, roused from'
their lethargy, darted forward.

But a ﬁgure—~their leader’s—leaped between
them and the door. l

“ Don’t be fools I” he cried, sternly. “ We
have the worst man west of the Rockies to deal
with. He is called Captain Flash now, but I
used to know him by another name. I am the
man he referred to when he talked about hi
shootin’. He hez an eye in the hack of his head.
Look there I”

The speaker turned into the strong lamp- ht
as he uttered the last word and tore pen
shirt. \ N
The mountain wolves glathered before him,
and stared at the ghas y bullet scar on his
bronzed ﬂesh. . _ . _ . '

“ One of Captain Flash’s valentines!” he said,
grating his teeth. “ I got it on the fourteenth
ov February. Oughtn’t I to recollect him?”

“ 0v course, but that doesn’t stop the boy an"
his secret l” rctorted the Cactus.

, “ N01” yelled the crowd. .'

\ “ I’ve follered ’em all the way from Mohave.
They’re gom’ straight to the mountain 0v ,
I know it. The bird war in our hands a. t
Now it‘s back in the bush!”

y

ago.

 
CHAPTER IV.
A LASSO up A nonsn’s ram.

NAVAJO NICK told the truth when he said,
that Alapatha, the white-haired war-chief of
the Navajoes, was dead. The famous warrior

1

/ \

 
. 9 a

The Boy Gold Huntet.‘

 
had met his death by the claws and the teeth of
a real mountain grizzlg, just as the young gold
hunter had related to a tain Flash. _

It was well known to t e Nava‘oes that their
chief had at some period of his li e accidentally
discovered a vein of gold whose wealth border-
ed on the marvelous. But knowing the greed of
his people for that metal with which they could
purchase “ﬁre-water” and ammunition from
the whites, he had persistently refused to di-
vul e his secret. _

e tribe viewed with a good deal of mistrust
the white be who rode into their village one
da and bol y declared his intention to become
a avajo warrior. Not a few believed that he
came for the urpose of worming from Alapa—
tha the impo nt secret.-

' The chief ado ted him. took him into his
lodge, and from t at day Nick became to all in-
tents and urposes a Navajo. If the boy was a
spy he in y played his cards well; he in-
gratiated' himsel into the chief’s good graces
and the two became inseplarables.

A light akin to trium burned in the youth’s
eyes while Alapatha.z ying from wounds re—
ceived in,his tussle With the bear, told in gasps
the secret he had guarded from his tribe so
well.

The Indians had long believed that the boy
was to become the custodian of the secret.

As Alapatha fell back dead, Nick started up
with a cry of victory.

“ At last!” fell from his lips. “ At last, Dago-
bert, the secret is ours! I have not risked my
life among these savage cut-throats for nothing.”
Then the boy had beeigdplaying a deep game?
Yes. “Nothing venimr nothing wen, had

been his motto.’ .

A few minutes later he was ﬂym from the
Navajo country. We have seen how e reached
Mohave Cit to ﬁnd theman he sought, and
how he and agobert found the rendezvous of
the mountain men.

Now let us seek other scenes.

Not a. great distance from the shanty in the
valley a score of statue-like ﬁgures occupied the
backs of as many horses. _ _

They were Navajo Indians, who mentioned,
as they conversed in low tones, the Indian name
of our hero—Coresquah. . _

The majority of these braves carried in addi-
tion to and bowa stout lariat which lay
in a co on the right fore-shoulder of their
steeds. A few had feathers twisted in their
scalp-looks, but all had a band of dried buﬂalo-
skin about their left arm between elbow and
shoulder. This seemed to be a distinguishing
mark, like the bowie and revolver on the bosom
of the mountain men.

It was such a mark, for if the entire Navajo
nation had been inspected at that time, but
twenty arms would have been found that bore
that band.

We will call that scarlet twenty by the name
which they had selected—the Brethren of the
Buﬂalo Band!

They had a mission, one that was to send
aegis of their number down the long trail of

th.
Suddenly one of the twenty threw himself
horn his horse and put his ear to the ground,

«-

and while he listened his companions watched
him closely.

“ Two horsesi” ejaculated the lndian, rising i
quickly, and several lassoes were at once un» ‘
coiled While some arrows were ﬁtted to the bow- i,
strinlgs. _
“ he big white wolves are hunting us," said .
one Navajo. “They come from their moun— ‘
tain den to strike the Indians who fell upon the
train.” .,

But the hoof-beats of the approaching horses 4‘
shut off all further remarks, and the party drew .
aside to let the strangers come up. I

“In the back!” passed from lip to lip as<
the elk-horn bows were drawn for the deadly

shots.

“ No, the lasso i” said the leader.

Instantly the bows were lowered, and those
vgho had uncoiled their lariats prepared for the
t row.

What was the Indians’ sur rise when, instead
of two stalwart men they be eld a boy and girl
on the horses that came up?

They started, and could hardly repress shouts
of delight, for they recognized the boy.

The Indian leader uttered a short command
which the young riders heard, but before they '
could prepare to meet the new danger, two las-
soes dropped over their heads and they were un-
ceremoniously jerked to the ground.

Black Mahomet stop suddenly when he
found himself relieved 0 his load, and the next
moment, with a. strange noise that sounded like
a neigh of rage he plunged into the midst of the
Navajoes that surrounded his master, scattering
their scarlet bodies ri ht and left.

But this gallant ac ion did not rescue Nick.
He was already held by a score of stron arms,
and the horse was lassoed and secur . The 3
girl, his companion, was likewise held, and the -
glismninuyes of the Navajoes shone every-
where around the captured twain.

, .. ham.

~__A_,,‘..Msw» u. unwﬂm and,

sow-xx ﬂ. 4 

Nick had ridden from one danger straight into . '

another. ‘~ .

The Indians made no attempt to conceal their
delight. '

“Coresquah hunting for Alapatha’s gol
already?” exclaimed the leader. “Him pic‘
up lwhite girl somewhere, and they hunt to-
get er.

Nick’s eyes answered the band. The shot
bfltslof deﬁance from their depths,
p am y:

“ I have the secret! Get it if you can.”

“ Navajoes no expect to ﬁnd Coresquah here. '
The Gil-sat Spirit made him ride under their
18.58068

” No. I was ﬂying from wolves whose skin is -’
white,” said the boy. “ I discover, though, that
I have not bettered my condition.”
Well might he s k thus. -

He had fallen into the hands of the'very In- ‘.

dians who had dogged his movements for four“
years. He knew them all; he knew, too, the
signiﬁcance of the buffalo band about their left
arms. ‘

He was led into the starlight, or to a t
whelre the shadows of the mountain trees id
not ie.

 
There, divested of ever weapon and with the
lasso still encircling his hroat, he was made to

, “.2

said '-
i

«a». . . ,

 
(DH.

1

Ling ‘,
un- 1
3w-

aid 3
un— '
the

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as
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s— u. ms._,. .s ....l l: . a.» .12“.

ad
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I
..

 
person,

' the unfortunate Bo

The Boy. Gold Hunter. 9

 
face the scarlet twenty, whose eyes blazed with
greed and ven eance.

“ Coresquah card Alapatha’s secret before he
died?” asked the head of the red league.

“ He told me,” was the answer.

“ Where?”

The brief interrogation was not to be mistaken.
The Indian is laconic. Nick understood him, but
he merely shut his lips and smiled.

“ Coresquah no tell, eh?”

H N0. ’7

The chief sent a quick, meanful glance among
his followers.

“Bring Coresquah’s horse."

A moment later Black Mahomet was led up,
and gecognized his young master with a joyful
nei ,

‘ Coresquah will take a ride if he will not
point out the trail to the mountain of yellow
stones.”

“ Then I must ride.”

Nick glanced at the girl—the waif of the
train—as he answered the chief. There was a
gleam of pride in her eyes; she approved his
resolution.

One end of the lasso which encircled the young

old hunter’s neck was made fast to Mahomet’s
uxunant tail, but not until the hinder feet of
the horse had elevated several of the would-be
torturers.

The boy watched these proceedin s with
strilin e interest, but kept his lips stu bornly
sea .
subject him was horrible to contemplate and

he could not help fancyin himself being drag-

ged through the rough de es of the Black For-'

est at the tail of his own faithful horse.

\Vhen the lasso had been fastened to Mahomet
inamanner satisfactory to the leader of the
league, every red face turned to our hero.

,‘ Co uah ready to answer now? Him sees
what the hildren of the Buﬁ‘alo Band will do

him say ‘ no’ a 'in. Let him speak.”

Navajo Nick di not hesitate.

“ I have not played Indian for four years to
surrender to a pack of red wolves the results
of the game my patience won,” he exclaimed.
“You’vglgot your thumb-screws on the wron

. avaJoes. I’d rather die a thousang
times than tell-you Alapatha‘s secret. It be-
longs to me. Now shoot your arrows into my
horse. I am ready!”

The lips of the resolute gold hunter closed
ﬁrmly behind the last word.

The Indian’s threat meant all that it portend-
ed, and almost before Nick could brace his
nerves for the ordeal, Black Mahomet bounded
forward with a wild snort that was commingled
with the twang of how-strings. _ _

The girl uttered a. loud c as Nick was. Jerked
from his feet, and covers her face With her
hands. But such action was not necessary, for
Gold Hunter disappeared
in an instant, and most tgio nickedto hailstmck

the iron-ti ws isc mg a 1m.
yA chorus ormagells followed Nick’s dis-
appearance. They echoed far through the lofty
wooded lands on every side, and penetrated the
starlit valleys below.

They reached the ears of a man who was

Wiring the base of a hill not very far away.

The doom to which his silence would ‘

 
E‘hisi individual carried a revolver in either
an .

f‘lnjunsl” he ejaculated, as he sto pod and
raised his head. “ That war a Navafo yell 0v
Vict’ry. I’ve heard it afore. Mebbe’—he sto
pad and drew a long breath of anxietly. “ Mob
they've caught my pard an’ the gal. f the hev,
an’ if they arm the boy, the ’11 soon Wis that
they hed never been born! won't be Captain
Flash to them. I’ll be Dagobert!”

The man was really Dagobert, and as he spruneﬁ
away the wild gallop of an unseen horse greet
his ears.

féAt their old tricks, l’ll bet my neck!” he
sni .

A few moments later the Man with two Names
threw himself fearlessly before a m cent
black horse which came down the de a with
head erect and mane streaming wildly in the
mountain breeze.

He stopped the frightened steed by his won-
derful strength, and subdued him with a few
words.

It was Black Mahomet.

“ Aha!” exclaimed Dagobert, catching sight
of the dark cord dangling from the black steed’s
tail. “ The meanest Injun trick ever done in
America 1”

He caught the lasso and leaped toward its un-
seen end, expecting to ﬁnd his boy pard there;
but the next moment no stopped and uttered a
crv of amazement. ,

he rope was scarcely ten feet long, and asrthe
giant stared at it, nooseless and without its cap-
tive he could not but exclaim:

“What on earth hez become ov the boy? Ef
he’s dead the muntain ov gold ar’ lost. Yes,
whar is Navajo Nick, Dagobert‘s pardr’ :

The re was ﬂun mad] to the ground.

“ Dea or alive I’ ﬁnd h l” he roared.

CHAPTER V.
ran MOUNTAIN POST-OFFICE.

CAPTAIN FLASH held Mahomet’s bridle as he
set out on the trail which he hoped would lead
him to his young comrade.

The mountain paths were starlit and easil dis-
cernible, and the trail of the black steed not hard
todistin ish.

The an with two Names held a cocked revol-
ver in his ri ht hand as he pursued his way.
Both eye an ear were on the alert, for Dugo-
bert knew not how soon he would he called 11
to encounter the Indians who had fastened lo]:

0’ curious,” e'aculated the giant

to the killin rope.

“ It’s kin
halting for a breathing spe l as well as to give
vent to his pentru feelings. “ I’ve got over a
mile ov hill and vs ey_ an’ no boy yit. I warn't
a mile from them InJuns when t ey hollered—
I’d bet my neck on that; then why ain’t I nigh
Navajo?”

The next moment the man from Mohave ut-
tered an exclamation of surprise and dropping
the black courser’s rein he picked up a piece 0
rage at one end of which was a noose. "

l l .

For several moments Dagobert scrutinised
the “ﬁnd” with t/interest and then per-
mitted a sigh of re of to escape him.

“ Not dead, that’s saltainl" he said. “ Hyar’a

 
/

‘10

The Boy Gold Hunter.

 
whar Nick an' Mahomet parted company. That
stone he: an edge like a razor, jes’ like hundreds
ov other mountain rocks, an’ it cut the rope
clean off. That’s what savod Nick, I kin see
that; but whar is the youngster now?”

Da obert went on again. It was patent to
him t t, separated from his horse, Navajo Nick
had disengaged himself from the noose and de-

arted. cord, then. could not have encir—
Koung gold hunter’s neck; it must have

P
cled the
slow his shoulders and preserved his

slipped
life.
The giant argued thus when he resumed his

mp.

“I don’t stop till I ﬁnd the boy!” he said for
the hundredth time. '

But the next moment a v01ce made him halt.

“We’re afoot an’ the boy war mounted;
think ov that.” _

Dagobert vaulted Into the saddle and turned
his face toward the speaker.

“We kin keep on at any rate. We’re gittin’
nigher all the time; thar’s some consolation in
thet anyhow.”

“The Twelve!”
breath. .

He and the horse were obscured by shadows
utterly impenetrable. Not far .away was a
piece of ground rendered quite light by the
starbeams. -

The horseman ﬁxed his eyes on the spot, and

Dagobert said under his

counted eleven ﬁgures that ﬂitted like ghosts

across it.

“ Whar’s the twelfth?” he asked himself.

Even while the interrogation still quivered
his lips the twelfth person reached the star-lit
ground and stopped. Dagobert leaned eagerly

orward. ,

The man was scarcely thirty feet away.

For a. moment he tried to pierce the shadows
into which his companions had disappeared, and
then as if satisﬁed that he was unobserved, he
knelt on the und, and thrust his hand under
a bowlder w 'ch, in some past age, had rolled
down the mountain-side.

\ Although Dagobert used his keen e es to the
advantage, he was unable to etermine
whether the man took a paper from beneath the
stone or deposited one there. At any rate he
could detect nothing in his hand when he rose,
and so he germitted him to glide on after the
rest of the and.

“That’s a queer perceedin’,” said Captain
Flash as he dismounted and sprung to the rock.
“ I’ll jes’ take a peep at that message store the
owner ‘ts it.”

His ong arm was soon thrust beneath the

I bowlder and his ﬁngers closed on a bit of paper
which was hastily withdrawn. The giant rose
' with a glare of triumgh in his eyes.

A. tnde took him ack to his horse, and lift-
i‘ga corner of the saddle skirt he produced a
match. He seemed to hold his breath as the
little stick slowly burned, and when a bright
ﬂame emerted its powers he darted at the
paper; but the next instant blank disappoint-
ment covered his face.

He had read:

“Ftnom: Ereh si trebogad. Solrac “
It wasa communication whose brevity puz-

 
aed; Dagobert as much as its nntranslatable
x

“Hebrew—Greek er Latin? which?” ex- .
claimed the giant staring at it in the dying .

light of his tiny torch. “Wal, it beats the
crickets. English isn’t good enough fur some
people, but they must write their messages in
some out-o’-the—way lingo and poke ’em under
rocks. Ei’ I thought thet the other'person’d
come arter this paper tonight, break my neck
of I would stay to receive him. ‘Etnoml’ I
don’t know ’im, but I could introduce myself in
less than a minute.” and the Arizonian smiled.

Dagobert struck another match and inspected
the paper again, but with the same result. It
told him nothing. He was not a good solver
of mysteries; a riddle would have disgusted him.

His second match was ﬂickering preparatory
to going out whena footstep startled him. Dago-
bert extinguished the ﬂame and turned.

Almost instantly he saw a ﬁgure nearing the :

rock but whether it belonged to white or red he
could not tell. ~

“ Etnom l” ejaculated the giant.
in’ to his post-ofﬁce.”

A moment later the person reached the rock
and stooped Da obert saw his hand disappear
into the mountain otter-box.

“Nothin‘! If he is playin’ false I will turn
on him!” said a deep voice as the person at the
stone rose disappointed. “ Two weeks an’ nary
letter—not a word!"

The Man with Two Names strode forward;

“ Hyar‘s yer mail!” he said, tossing his “ ﬁnd"
into the man’s face as he turned with a. startled
oath; “An’ I want you to read it fur me,
too.

Dagobert’s revolver almost touched the stran-
ger’s face.

“Pick it up an’ read,” commanded Captain
Flash. ,

All this time the new—comer was t ' to
make out the personnel of the man w 0 con-
fronted him. ,

“You’ll see me better b the light ov your
match,” said Dagobert. “
somewhar about yer anatom

“ He’s com-

17
The stranger sullenly produced a. match and.

picked up the paper.

He seemed as eager to peruse its contents as
he was to view the man beforehim.

A glance seemed to acquaint him with thebrief
message. He started and seemed to gasp.

“ Translate it I” cried Dagobert. ,

The next moment the match revealed the two
men to each other.

“ Dagobert himself 1”

it Monte!” v

The paper dropped once more to the ground
Where its owner put his heel on it.

Dagobert seemed about to throw himself upon
the man who had spoken his name. The blazing
of his eyes told of the tiger in his heart. /

His enemy—for theiman'could be nothing less
-—was his match. He was muscular, and
dark like a Navajo giant. He ad the wolﬂsh
eyes of the half-breed; a mass of 10 black hair
touched the cape attached to his dingy jacket.
In short, he was the very type of man who
mﬂi’ight be expected topatronize a mountain post-
o co, I '

.n .

ou‘ve got a lucifer _'

 
l}!

 
w-4«,aam_. ,, .A 4 .V

The Boy Gold Hunter.

>711

 
“ You haven’t read the letter to me,” continued
Dagobert.

‘ There’s no use in doin so,” was the reply.
“ You are here. That’s w at it said.”

“ Ah! I don’t understand that. I tried to make
it out, but—"

“ You did not read the words backward.
They said, ‘Dagobert is here !’ Etnom is Monte,
an’-—" the man paused.

“ An’ ‘ Solrac’ is Carlos. Carlos!”

Dagobert's eyes ﬂashed as he repeated the
name. “Are you three still alive?”

H Yes. 11

“ Where’s Carlos?“

“Not far away. He brought the letter to the
stone."

“ I saw him, I did!” cried Dagobert. “ And I
did not kill him."

Monte looked surprised.

“We three still live.” he said slowly, as if to
taunt the man from Mohave. “ I didn’t expect
to ﬁnd you here, though; but the letter would
have told me, don’t you see?”

Ca taln Flash aﬁpeared to nod.

“ onte, what ‘d I say when you three men
tied me to my horse in the haunted valley of the
Basaltic Buttes?” he said, slowly. “ It was three
to one then. What did 1 say?”

“ Pshaw! cu know i” cried Monte. “I am
harsh Do w at you said you would if we ever
me .

bert’s lips met; the revolver crept closer
to the dark face before it. and then a stalwart
form reeled from the ﬂash that revealed it for a
second. .

“Two more i” ejaculated the Man with Two
Names. “ Monte was a leopard—the other two
are tigers. I knew we war bound to meet
some day. Now for Carlos an’ the other one.
But the y first. This ar’ only a diversion.
I never kill only when I hev to, an’ this war one
ov them cases.”

He went back to the patient horse. and the
next moment had led him past the silent form
on thgground—the last caller at the mountain

ce

post .

He ve it but a glance as he went by.

‘1 T e wolves are gatherin’ to doom,” he mur-
mured. “ The mountain ov gold attracts them
—the yellow bonanza and—Dagobertl”

 
CHAPTER VI.
m HAND or MONTE.

Tn): Brethren of the Buffalo Band did not
turn their attention to the wait of the train un-
til the horse had out of sight bearing
Navajo Nick behin him. '

Then‘ they seemed to recall the fact that they
had another captive to dispose of, and the next
moment the girl found herself surrounded by
the red-skins.

“ I am ready,” she said before the most eager
could interrogate her. f‘ After massacring the
people ‘of our little train, it is but ﬁtting that
you should sla the last survivor.’.’

_She drew or ﬁgure proudly up to its true
hight as she spoke, and looked straight into the
t rlsh eyes that regarded her.

‘ You _will put an avenger out of your way
by striking now,” she ‘oo'ntinued. “ I don‘t

 
know Where the mountain of gold is, so you
needn't uestion me about it. If I knew I
would no tell you.”

Her fearlessness rather commanded the re—
spect of the Arabs of Arizona. They looked
into each other’s faces until not one knew what
to suggest.

The girl seemed to enjoyDtheir perplexit y.

“ You can make Helen ayton an avenger li
sparing her life," she said again. “ I will than '
you for the act, but only because it would ivo
me license to kill every NavaJio I met.
father was in the train. He fel at your ﬁrst
volley, and if the mountain men had not driven
you”,oﬂ?, one of your shafts would have slain
me.

“ White girl brave. She shall live to hunt the
Navajo warriors. She is free."

Free! The waif of the train could hardly be-
lieve that she was free; but when the Indians
stepped back and released her she knew that she
was at liberty.

“They have some motive in this strange ac-
tion ” ﬂashed through her mind. “I am free,
but feel that I shall be watched."

It was true. The Navajoes went back to
their horses, mounted and rode away, leaving
Helen half—bewildered on the ground of her sud-
den capture and release. v!

The coun was strange to the girl.
alone in the lack Forest of Arizona!

For several moments she remained where the
band had left her, then she took up the trail
of the horse which had carried Navajo Nick
away.

“ he horse, acquainted with these mountains,
will seek some camp,” she murmured. “It is
my only hope.” I

e trail was discernible. Mabomet’s hoofs
had made impressions which any eye could see.

The girl kept on with increasing courage.
Every now and then she looked behii.d her, but
saw nothing. Still she was followed.

Two ﬁgures had left the Navajo band, and
were cree ing like mountain wolves after the
survivor o the train. Their eyes never left her,
for they had received instructions to follow her
wherever she went.

If Helen could have seen her trailers her con-
victions would have been doubly conﬁrmed; she
would have known that the rethren of the
Buffalo Band believed that she knew the loca-
tion of the mountain of gold, and that, b fol-
lowing her, they would surely discover A apa-

She was

tha‘s secret.
Helen stop all at once. Conﬁdent that she
still follow Black Mahomet, she had not paid

much attention to the hoof—prints in the deﬁle
for some time, and she found herself before a
wooden shanty which she had cause‘to remem-

r.

It was the rendezvous of the mountain men,
but now it was dark and silent, although the
door stood wide 0 .

“What fatality rings me back to‘this place?”
exclaimed the girl. “I had hoped that Ihad
seen the mountain wolves and their den for the
last time, but here I am 1: gain, this time, thank
Heaven! unseen by them.”

She approached the place. The silence and
the open deor told her that it was deserted. She

 
I!

The Boy Gold Hunter.

 
listened at the portals for several minutes, dur—
ing which she heard her heart beat.

‘ What if I could arm myself!” she suddenly
thought. “ If fate brought me back to this
place, was it not for such a purpose?”

She hesitated no longer, but crossed the
threshold and began to grope about the Stygian
interior of the shanty.

At the same time the two red trailers glided
up to the door and listened.

Helen found nothing for some time, and then
only a match. Her joy at ﬁnding this little
stick cannot be described. She quickly produced

a h t. »

151a ﬂame that dazzled her eyes fur a moment
was not large; it did not reveal the entire in-
terior of the mountain den, but it showed Helen
enough to tell her that it was quite deserted—
that the Marked Shirts in departing had left no
weapon behind. But this was not all that the
lucifer revealed. It showed Helen the couch of
bearskins on which she had rested herself after
her rescue by the twelve. They had not taken it
with them, as if they expected her to use it again.

The match speedily went out leaving the girl
in darkness once more; but she had seen enough.

“ No weapons,” she said. “Helpless yet.”

The last sentence was full of that despair that
takes possession of the hearts of persons in her
situation. She instinctively groped her way to
the cot and cast herself u n it.

“Only for a little rest,’ she said, half aloud.
“ I will not fall asleep. I must not.”

But she could not overcome the drowsiness
that follows fatigue, and she had hardly touched
the liable bearskiu's before she was asleep.
The ndians listened at the door until they heard
her regular breathings; then they crept away to
watch the structure, and to wait for the awak-

eni . .

Tnhge tracked waif of the train slept peacefully
for some hours when she was awakened by a
strange noise. After she had Opened her eyes
she heard it again. Somebody seemed to be
nailin something to the door of the den._

Wit her heart in her throat Helen listened
until the noise ceased; then she crept toward
the entrance. The night was Wearing away;
here and there the cold streaks of dawn were ap-
peering.

When Helen reached the door she caughta
glimpse of a ﬁgure that had'a human shape; but

I; diappeared in an instant. _

“ He was here and made the neise that star-
tled me,” she said to herself. “ What did he do?
I will see."

She leaned out of the door as she spoke and
saw the man’s’ work.

It was this:

Fastened to the rough weather-boardin of the
shanty by a hu 8 bowie—knife was a. uman
hand, and under he ghastly object was a piece
of paper which contained some words traced by
red keil! ,

The horrid sight drove all color from Helen
Dayton’s face: but curiOSity took her beyond
the door, and she read the words on the paper.
They ran: '

" Monte‘s right hand! Iam on the track ov my

old toes. I am hyar to ﬁnd an’ to kill. Bewar’! “
. Tasman).

    
ing riveted the young girl’s attention. If she
had read it from right to left she might have
ceased to stare, for i then would have recalled
a name which she had heard fall from Navajo
Nick’s tongue. '

Helen drew back into the shanty shudderin ,
but the next moment she heard the sharp crac
of a revolver, and then the death-cry of an In—
dian. The re rtwas followed by another be-
fore she coul catch her breath, and when she
looked out she beheld two Indians stretched on
the ground not far away.

They were the trailers, though she knew it
not, who had fallen before the certain eye of
the Avenger.

A laugh full of triumph came through the in-
creasing morning light, and Helen saw a may
approach the India .

She started and held her breath as he came
forward.

“A friend at last!” she exclaimed, springing
over the threshold. “Ah! thank fortune for
your return, Captain Flash."

The man looked up and started.

"The gal, by hokeyl” fell from his lips, and
when Helen paused at his side his eyes seemed to
devour her.

“ Whar‘s the boy?”

The girl hesitated. What! tell that man that
his young protege had been lassoed and drag
to death by his own horse? No! she could

not.

” I know about the lasso bizness ” Da obert
said quickly. “ I’ve been huntin’ al nig t fur
Nick, but hevn’t found a ha’r. He isn’t in
tharlg’ and he glanced at the shanty.

0

—not a hint?" asked t

“ Not a word."

“ He knows how to keep a secreti We’ll
stick together till we ﬁnd Nick. I’m glad I’ve
found you. Gal, et' you hed ez many. enemies ez
I hev you’d go into ysterics.”

“ our enemies are mine!” she said, looking
up into his face.

“I like that kind 0’ talk! Thar’s blood in
you, gal, (W the kind what tells. You heard
me leavin’ mg mark on the shanty, eh? Thet‘
hand war the loodiest in Arizona. l‘ve felt it
at my throat; but not last ni ht. You couldn‘t
make out the name at the ttom ov my few
remarks. I s’pose. It’s my name, but my worst
enem l’arnt me to spell it backward last night.
I’d 1i e to be hyar when_he reads that paper!”
and Dagobert’s eyes blazed.

Helen went 0!! with the giant.

CHAPTER VII.
ANOTHER TUSSEL FOR THE SECRET.

THE sun was high in the heavens when tWelve
rough-looking men—veritable children of the
mountains, drew rein on one of the densely-
wooded slopes of the Black Forest, and gazed
at a ﬁgure moving through a. ravine. some dis-
tance below them.

Their eyes burned with victory. and manyhan
ejaggllajiion of joy fell from their lips as ey
wa

e man eagerly.

 
e . .
The object of theirattention was a youth who,

The strange name at the bottom of the warn-r f

“ Did he tell you anﬁthing about the bonanza

i

 
vam- .
1' she
have
alled
.vajo
'in ,
rac
In-

she
! on i

vit
not

in-
In?

me

'38!
‘or

id '1

~1n an;

/

I. “ They

 
_, t

The Boy Gold Hunter.

hatless and dirt-begrimed, was pushing through
the shadows which even at noonday lay in t e
ravme.

“ 'l'he b0 5 the boy with the secret!” were the
Words in w _ich they had recognized this person-

NavajoVNick was below them!

He had escaped the horrid fate to which the
Brethren of the Buffalo Band had consigned
him, and now, solitary and alone, he was going
deeper and deeper into the unknown land that
encompassed him.

“'The gal isn‘t with ’im an’ he’s met with an
aCCident, fur whar’s his boss?” said the leader
of the mountain men, glancing at his nearest
companion who was our old acquaintance, the
Boss Cactus.

“I wouldn’t be surprised, cap’n, ef he run
ag’in’ the Navajoes,” was the answer.

“ Doubtless, anl ef we let 'em go on he may
run into ’ern ag’in.”

The eagles were ready to swoop down upon
the quarr thus unexpectedly thrown before
them an the mountain slope was soon de-
Se .
Meanwhile, Nick, dreamless oi the new foes
near was pursuing his way. He presented the
appearance of a person who had been dragged
some distance at the end of a rope Rocks and
roots had scarred his face and torn his clothes;
his introduction to the Black Forest had been
by no means pleasant. Entirely without arms,
he was unable to cope with the Euniest enemy,
and he was hurrying along as it, eyond the end
of the lab, then not far away, he expected to
ﬁnd he , friends.

“ Hal ll” rung suddenly in his ears.

The voice sounded like the knell of doom.

:The boy sprun back and looked ahead.

, “Six devils!’ he cried, as he looked into the
muzzles of the riﬂes that covered his heart.

With the last word on his lips he involun-
taril turned to ﬂy.

“ ix more!” he said, without takirig a step.

have stolen a march on me. am com-

pletely hemmed in.”

It was true. He was between the riﬂes of
the mountain men. . V

“ I see them for the ﬁrst time, but I know
them. They are the men Dagobert faced last
night the wolves who saved Helen, hunters like
myself for the mountain gold.” _

At that moment his thoughts were. interrupt-

“ What is it my kid? Life er death? Take
er choice.” These words came over a horse’s
end, and from between a pair of lips raised

slightly above the stock of a riﬂe. _ . _

“ Say it nick!” continued the v01ce as Nick

Ii-jppeared to esitate.
r “I surrender !” '
“ That’s bizness. Come for’ard, my mountain
l1,011 hock.” , ' I
avajo Nick went up to the six he had dis-
°°Ver0d ﬁrst. I _ _
When he reached the men they were Jomed lay

' gash companions. and he was quickly surroun

r eye went from man to man_ as if he
Flight a. particular person, and when it paused
F“? certain face he shook with rage.
ha Traitor!” he hissed. “ You and your pigeon
Yeh'iumphe'd for a time.”

1

 
1 3

The Marked Shirt grinned.

“Wal, yes,” he said, coarsoly. “The Boss
Cactus an’ his pigeon ar’ ez good ez a hand 0v
aces,” and then he added; “Whar’s yer pard
Dag—Captain Flash?”

ick started. The Cactus had not checked
himself in time. He, too, knew Captain FlaSh
as Dagohert.

“He isn’t far away!” answered the Boy Gold
Hunter.

“ Don’t lie, Blossom!” said another man, and
the leader of the league. “ We know better nor
thet. You hevn’t seen him since last night. An’
the al?”

“ "ll tell you all. I fell in with a band of
Navajoes—my old comrades—last night. The
lassoed me and tied the rope to my horse’s tai.
It was in the dim starlight, and just before the
horse started, I got the noose below my shoul-
ders. I was dragged some distance, but a stone
that seemed to have an edge like a razor cut the
lasso, and left me nearer death than life some—
where back yonder. I am here now, your
prislpngr. The girl I haven’t seen since last
nig t.

The Twelve could hardly contain their tri-

"umph, while the boy hurried through his brief

narrative.

“ We’ll cut up thet stone fur breast-pins ef
you’ll take us to it,” said the leader, unable, to
suppress his deli ht longer. “ Ef it hedn’t been
fur it we‘woul n’t see you hyar in the ﬂesh,
holy. Don’t you grasp the p’intl”

ick evidently did, for he glared at the
speaker.

The men, at a signal from their head, glided
to the ground. ‘

“ It’s coming now— the ordeal,” thought the
gold hunter.

“ We don’t stan’ on ceremony, Blossom,” said
the captain sternly. “ You know what we want
to know; you wormed it out ov old Alapatha at
last. The hull batch 0v us couldn’t he_v t it
out 0v him with our peacemakers at his ead.
We’ll own that a bear helped on to the secret;
but you got it just as hard.
Whar is the mountain of gold ?”

“ Where it has been since the creation,” said
the boy.

“ No fun!” came over the revolver thatvhad
been thrust‘hito Nick’s face. “ Of course it’s been
thar sinCe the cr’ation, and we intend to leave it

/

ow, what war it? ‘

whar it stands now. We only want the linin',

Blossom; the innards, so to speak.”
The boy kept silent. and the deep-set eyes pot

the mountain men blazed as their impatience

increased.

“ The secret is mine!” said thé
‘“ I won it, and I ropose to keep it.
“ Oh, you do, e 3- We], we'll try you.” v

Five minutes later the ho was lashed to the
nearest tree. His jacket h
the upper partof his body was exposed to moun-
tain Wind and sun. ~

The Twelve had drawn back a few paces. and

the Boss Cactus was puttingt-he ﬁnishing touches _

to a terrible-looking whip made trom a species
of mountain undergrowth. it was ﬁve feet long,
willowy and cutgng, and fairly whistled as he
cut the air with . _ \

Navajo Nick pressed his cheek against the

gold yvseeker.

been torn off, and.

K m.» “a”,

 
l4,

tree. Not a vestige of color remained on his
face. '

“ Twenty doses ov this yarb kills !” said the
voice of the Cactus at his shoulder, as he thrust
the brutal whip before his eyes. “ You kin
keep yer mouth shut an’ git the hull number, er
tell the truth an’ save yer skin. Ar’ ye ready,
cap’n?”

Nick drew a long breath.

“Now Blossom, what ar’ you goin’ to do?"
said the head of the mountain Twelve. “The
secret er the whip?”

“ The whip!” I

A murmur of disappointment ran through the
lawless grou .

“ Now let im have it, Cactus!”

The next instant the body of Navajo Nick
actually left the ground, for the infernal lashes
had descended on his back, and where they
touched the skin was a apiug crimson line!
Once, twice. three timest e forest cat-o’-nine-

tails descended upon the victim!
' ' At the third blow the boy 3 he.

“ I’ve had enou h!” he sai .

The captain ut red a cry of joy and caught
the mad. arm about to deal the fourth blow.

“ I thought we’d bring ’im to it," he said, as
he stepped toward the gold hunter. “You’ve
hed enough you say? I t ought you war no fool,
Blossom. You will tell us?”

“ I will show you!”

“That's jes’ 62 good, of on don’t play us
false,” said the captain, a litt e suspicious.

“ I will show you the mountain of gold.
You can keep me all the time a hostage for
ugly good behavior. There’s enough there for all
0 us.

“ Of course!” said the mountain men, as
they gave each other a meaning wink. “ Thar’s
nothin' mean about us, Blossom; we’ll divide.”

“ Untie me ﬁrst.”

The cords were cut, and Nick leaned against
the tree.

The lash had cut his ﬂesh in a most cruel man-
ner; he could scarcely stand.

“ You will lead to the boss bonanza, an’ no
foolin’i’"

" I have promised. It you don’t believe me,
give me the other seventeen strokes."

“ We’ll trust you, Blossom.”

NavaJo Nick gritted his teeth to bear the pain
made by the rough dressing administered to his
wounds. .

When his jacket had been replaced he was
placed on a horse before his old toe, the Cactus,
and the captain turned to him.

“Ef you attempt to pla us false, Blossom,
we hunt the bonanza alone rom that moment,"
he said, slowly, “ an’ the vultures will hev
anotger feast! So, bewar’! ‘ Now, which
wa .

‘ To Nava'o Canyon.” ,

The entire elve started.

“Why, we’re alth thar now!” exclaimed
r the ca tain. _

“ e must ﬁnd it ﬁrst,” sand Nick.

ward!” ,

The ravine was deserted in. a minute.

:In the eyes of the mountam men was a wild
look of triumph.

Theywere on the threshold of success; the

v

“ For-

 
The Boy Gold Hunter.

4

Kellgiept secret of the Navajo chief was theirs
a t.

As for the boy he did not speak, but every
now and then a flash would appear in his eyes
to vanish an instant later.

“ Never mind, Dagobert, the 15 secret
hasn’t slipped through my ﬁngers a for all. I’m
no traitor!”

He murmured thus a dozen times.

 
CHAPTER VIII.
uonavn BILL.

ALL day long the sun shone on the dead hand ‘

fastened to the boards of the mountain shant .

Not far away lay the two Indians who ad
fallen before Dagobert’s revolvers. Their last
trail had ended at the same moment, and they
lay dead side by side with the buffalo band, the
 of the red gold league on their rigid arms.

he prowling coyote visited the spot, and
ﬁnding nothing to appease his appetite slunk
away to other valleys.

The vicinity of the mountain men continued
silent and deserted, until the cooling winds of
the brief Arizonian twilight prevailed again.
The hilt of the bowie no ion or throw a hi eons
shadow over the dead han ; but the warning
insecurer fastened to the weather-boardin
ﬂuttered in the breeze. '

Not until that hour did a visitor come.

Then a horse stopped before the door, and a.
pair of eyes cold and steely stared at the mark
of vengeance which Captain Flash, or Dagobert,
had left behind.

“The hand of Monte!” read the man slowly
and in a coarse voice that sounded a short dis-
tance away like the low growl of a grizzly.

He‘read the rest of the paper, the threat and
the warning.

“ So you are back, eh?” he suddenly exclaimed
and then as his eyes seemed to emit speaks of
ﬂame he added:

to the ground and leaving the
leathern lines on his horse’s neck wrenchod the
knife from the hand and secreted it in hisbosom.
The hand he laid on the doorste . Then turn-
ing again to the warning he an denly drew a
dagger of his own and p unged it through the
paper as if it had been the heart of his bitter-est

foe. I

All the time he kept muttering: “ I am here!”
In appearance this man bore a strikingre-
semblanca to the leader of the mountain men;
he had the same physique, the black board, the
same gray eyes and bushy eyebrows.

But there was one marked difference. This
person had but one hand! If he was thus orig
pled, he carried two revolvers; as it to his is
wrists. good hand hung.

“The right hand by hokey!” he exclaimed
picking u the dead hand in whose palm go
the woun made by the Avenger-’5 dirk. “ I
didn’t think. Monte, when we parted com 11‘
in the Gold Range two months ago, that wggn
took or hand ag’m thur’d be no man nigh it.
The ast words I said to on war: ‘ an
eye open for Dagobert.’ wonder if he did
steal a march on you, Monte? E! you’re livin'
we’ve got tWo hands left fur ’im. Two of the

 
.._._l_...-—--v-u—t 5‘5 2'1

   
115‘- WP..va < '

7....“ Dance.

 
‘ mountain bushes nearebiy,

The Boy Gold Hunter.

15,

 
best hands in Arizony. He took my left hand
because it war nighest my heart; an’ yer right
one because it war the hand that choked him in
the haunted valley 0v the Basaltic Buttes. Ho!
ho! Monte, we must take both his to get even.”

The man took a knife and scooped out a bit of
earth until he had made an excavation deep
enough toreceive the hand, and having buried
it he went back to the horse.

A moment later he was again in the saddle
and riding slowly down the valley trail that led
to the spot where the blackened body of Monte
still uicumbered the ground.

The keen-e ed horse noticed it before his mas-
ter and startled back with a snort of terror. .

‘ What is it?” exclaimed the man, getting
down. “ Somebody what needs plantin’, thet’s
sartain. Mebbe it’s—-—”

He stopped, for he had seen the disﬁgured

“He wouldn’t take a good hotograph now
Whoever he is,” he went on, ‘ If hes got two
hands—only one, by J u iterl It’s Monte l”

The man dropped 1: e arm he had partly
raised and sprung erect with the roar of a wild

“ Monte, an” killed by him I” he cried. “ N ow,
Dagobert, look out. I had almost quit huntin
fur you, although you took my hand. You took
it tair. I didn’t squeal: but hyar lies the biggest

in Arizony. I don’t care of Monte war a
halt-breed—ef his mother war a Pimo squaw.
He never shook a friend, nor stole a keerd from
the deck. He watched me through the small-

x on the Gila, and fought his way through

’vin' bowies to me in Mohave. He carried me
three days on his back through the snows of
Colorado. He war my pard, an’ with Mohave
Bill that means everything!"

The man paused to get his breath; he was a
statue of passion, a whirlwind of rage.

“ I sw’ar, Monte, to foller the killer!” he cried.
“I hunt him from this moment like the wolf

I hunts the deer, .but with reefer hatred. I hav-

n‘t much education, but 1 ve l’arnt how to avenge

pards, an’ I'm at the head ov the class when
it comes to killin’. He sha’n‘t escape Mohave
Bill. I’m his livin’ judgment. an’ I’ll ﬁnd ’im ez
surel 92 death will. I came hyar to ﬁnd Carlos.
but ﬁnd you, Monte. I hope I may never see
as cap’n until I hev settled accounts With Dago—

rt.”

The Avenger drew the body into some heavy
and when he came
out his 1i were clinch and there was a cold
glitter infis gray orbs. _

- Without a word he sprung again to saddle and
res“mod his journey, but this time he went fast-
er than before, for the stron g-limbed horse bore
him rapidly over the ground.

He seemed to know where to ﬁnd the manhe
Wanted to meet, for he dashed like a pursuing
IIllil‘it through valley and canyon, and made his

lea mountain creeks which at other times

0 W0 have avoided.

was breakin as the man-hunter entered

3 h whose wa ls towered several hundred
feet above his slouched hat. On either side Were
numerous ﬁssures like the mouths of caves, and
some were large enough to hold a company of
me“. Not a few of these suspicious places were

 
half concealed by bushes that take root only in
the canyons of the Southwest. ’

Mohave Bill did not seem to notice them. He
he 1; his gaze straight ahead.

11 at once his steed uttered a snort and shied,
and the next moment six or eight half—naked ﬂ —
ures leaped tiger-like from several of these dar
niches, and sprung at his horse’s head.

“ Injunsl" grated the man. “ They can’t keep
me from Dagobert. They’re fools to try it 1" v

The red pests of the canyon were at his ani-
mal’s hit; their arms were trying to drag him
from the saddle.

Instantly the reins fell from the man’s only
hand and were caught by a little contrivance
on the front of the saddle from which nobody on
the ground could tear them.

At the same time two vigorous kicks 'shook
several would-be captors loose, and the Aven-

(-r was shooting his way clear witha onderous

olt which he wielded like a toy piste . .

“Stop Mohave Bill? stop the earth!” he shout-
ed, as several Indians staggered back from the
ﬂashes of that weapon otdeath. “ I’m on a bus-
iness thet mustn't beinterfered with. Cl’ar the
track! I’m death on his pale hoes. Stop Mo-
have Billi Sto lightnin' I” ,

A dozen In ians leaped at this juncture to
their comrades’ assistance but vainly. The ex-
cited horse, struck madly) by the madman’s
spurs, dashed through the arriers of ﬂesh, and
Mohave Bill, swaying from side to side crushed
more than one head with the empty, but clubbed
revolver. ’ ‘

He scattered them like chad, and sent a laugh
of deﬁance over his shoulder as the arrows sent ’
after him fell short of their mark. \

Beyond the ulch he stopped and turned his
face toward his attic-ﬁeld. '

He rose in his broad Mexican stirrups, took
05 his hat and brought it down with emphasis-_
on the strong neck of his gallant horse.

“ Step Mohave Bill? Stop a comet!” he cried
till the mountain woods around and above him
repeated the words. i ‘

‘Me an’ my hons ar’ a pair 0’ trumps; ain’t
we, Gold-bu ?. Nothin’ stops me this side 0v
Da obert; nJuns, grizzlies, earthquakes l—
not in’ l” . .

Mohave Bill was an enemy worth having. He "
was worthy to grapple with the Man wit Two
Names.

CHAPTER IX.
TH}: REVOLVER STILL SPEAKS.

Tim Indians did not follow Mohave Bill.

Six'lay prostrate on the ground, victims of his
unerring aim and the strength of his arm.

He had passed through their midst like" a
thunderbolt, or like a demon of death who
leaves his mark behind.

At the end of the gulch as we have seen' .
Dagobert’s foe was givmg vent to his exuberant
feelings. His scarlet enemies might have stolen

 
' dowu the ra i d shot him,-but they did not“
V Be an and

think of such a thing until hehad
darted away once more. I

The six bodies were carried into one of the
niches and the rest of the red gold league
formed a roup in the gulch. Therethey held,
their right ands up and swore to hunt down the

vi
“:

 
13

The Boy Gold Hunter. \

 
man who had reduced the numbers of their

Meanwhile, Mohave Bill was riding on. He
was no longer dashing on through the morning
light with nothing to guide him, int certain im-
pressions on the mountain road told him that
a number of horses had lately passed over it.

He noticed the hoof-prints as he rode on, and
seemed to recognize them, although they did not
diﬂ'er from those usually made by a company of
cavalr horSes.

“ W t am I follerin’ Carlos fer?” he suddenly
asked himself aloud. “ Oh, I promised to see
him es soon on I got back to thaw parts, but I
might. hunt Dagobert ﬁrst, and avenge Monte.
Thar war three 0v us once; but thar’s only two
new, with three good hands between us—not
enou h to wear two pa’r ov gloves. I’ll kinder
hreaE my word ~b goin’ on till I ﬁnd Carlos and
the ti rs thet fol or him. Won’t his eyes blaze
when tell ’im about Monte!”

An hour later twelve men drew rein and
stopped in a wooded valley to listen to the echo
of a shrill neigh that had caused them to lift
their heads.

“ Captain Flash ” said more than one. V

“ No," answered their leader under his breath.

“ It is not D chart, but Mohave Bill.”

The last 3 er was not mistaken, for all at
once a horseman 8. ed on the side or a moun-
tain above them. is ﬁgure was outlined against
the bluelsky.

“Mohave! I knew it!” exclaimed the captain
of the Twelve, and he signaled the elevated
person with  hat.

, An answering signal came down the mountain,
and the. horseman disappeared.

Ten minutes later he appeared in the valley,
and in full view 0! the men who were waiting
imiatiently for him.

erode uptothe band with the old icy leamin

his eyes, and was met by the roug leader
wi ahearty. “ How are ye, Mohave?

The salutation was scarcel returned, and
when Mohave Bill refused t e bronzed hand
thrust forward l'or a shake, Carlos started and
gave him a look of wonder.

“ My hand touches no livin’ man till it touches
Dagohert!" he said. “ He took the best band
Monte-had last night.”

“ What?"

“ He nailed it to the door ov the shanty with
the knife thet cut it o .”

’The eyes 01 Carlos fairly blazed. He seemed
abouttutf leap trom the saddle at the man who

was . ,
“I “W hand. I found Monte. His face
W8? I‘ll-ﬁber homely er what thar war left ov it.

I planted hand an” harkiss. Mob Bill ar‘ a
livin’ judgment: death in the saddle“:

The whu'lwmd of rage was again moving in
the Avenger’s breast. _ ,

“ We saw ’im last night!” Carlos said.

(6 

l‘ m [heft],

“An' you did not kill him!” ,

:: hadthczrdro on us." f g”, ﬂed M

. nvou os—on er igers c 0-

have B ‘ ulous. y“'l‘ell me that ag’in.

“ On me—on all of us!” replied Carlos.
“ You ought to be shot 1"

you don’t know—7’

“Don’t tell me!” ﬂashed Monte’s Avenger.
“ He got the dro on you; thet’s enough. He’ll
never git it on ohavel—never!”

Carlos smiled half-contemptuously and his
eyes seemed to say: “ Just wait, boaster.”

“But we kin stand the advantage Dagobert
got ov us last night since we’ve found the moun-
tain 0v gold."

“Found it? How?”

“By Dagobert’s pard, the boy what we’ve
watched for four years. VVatchin’ an waitin’
pays Mohave.”

Mohave Bill did not boar Carlos’s observation
for his eyes had singled Navajo Nick out from
among the horsemen a few paces behind his
friend.

“Ah!” suddenly parted his lips as he went
1 >rward.

“ Don’t touch the boy! He’s worth hisweight
in gold!” cried Carlos. starting.

‘ Never you mind, pard.”

Monte’s Avenger went on with his eyes riveted
on our young gold hunter who met his glare
with undaunted gaze.

When near enough, Mohave Bill leaned for—
ward and his eat hand descended on Nick’s
shoulder like a i er’s ﬂaw. .

“ So you ar’ ago ert’s pard!” he hissed
mad] . “Did you touch Monte last ni ht?”

“ onto?” asked our hero, to whom e name
was new.

“ Yes; Monte l”

“ I never saw him.”

“Thet’s so, Bill,” said Carlos whose hand fell
on the Avenger’s arm. “ I kin vouch fur t
truth ov thet statement. Blossom warn’t wit
Da obert when he met Monte.” ,

ehand of bronze still lingered on Nick’s
shoulder: the eyes that regarded him still re-
tain rd their bloodthirsty, ti rish glare.

“ Ef I thought you wars 'eldin
the golden secret l’d ‘ve his. brains to the
winds,” said Mohave. “ kin live Without the
mountain ov gold. It’s a big humbug anyhow,
er a chimne thet deceivod the eyes ov thet In-‘
jun chief. es, of I thou ht, ye war humbug-
gin’ me I’d empty one sad e in this crowd.”
The mountain man seemed to gasp. If. Mo-
have Bill should carry out his threat then ood-
by to the secret soon to be revealed throng the
boy captive. ‘

All breathed free when the halt-breed
Avenger’s hand left Navajo Nick’s shoulder, and
his burly ﬁgure straightened in the saddle.

The crisis was passed. ,

“ We’ll begin to see daylight at Navajo Can-
yon,” said Carlos to Mohave. “ The boy says so."
“Gold! gold! nothing but gold!" sneered the
Avenger. “ You don’t hear fur Monte the man
what let himself down into the Black tsuich‘ by
a piece ov rape an’ snatched you from the jaws
ov death! on ain’t Carlos any more because
you forget!” ‘

A wild oath burst from the captain’s throat.
and whirling upon the speaker he tore open his
hunting shirt and ex osed the scar which the

 
Mehbe Imdid‘ not understand you. I hope not.
The drop on you. par-d?” .

night before he had s own to his men.

1

“Mebbe so, but Bill, you warn’t thar an’ ‘

him to save ‘

 
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The Boy Gold Hunter.

“ Can I forget while I carry this, Mohavo’i”

“Cut it out and throw it to the coyotes!”
grated the Avenger. “A man who will hunt
ur a gold mine while the person lives who
made each a scar ez thet, oughtn’t to hev a
pard; but you hev twelve!”

Carlos Minced.

“We”: keep it. I don’t want you to hunt
DEEObert. I am Monte’s Avenger. Go an’ ﬁnd
{01‘ gold mine—cf you kin! I’ll ﬁnd a heart

011:? afore on see t e shinin’ stones.”
ohave ill picked up the lines which he had
drop to clutch our hero’s shoulder, and pre-

W to ride on.

“ Mohave?—”

“ Talk to the winds! You ain’t the same Car-
los what fought Da obert with me an’ Monte
among the Basaltic uttes. Thet Carlos war a
mountain lion; the one I talk to now is a diﬁ'er-
ent kind 0v animal. "

The last words out to the bone.

Carlos darted at Mohave Bill, but a barrier of

arms intergosed.
‘ "I won] n’t touch him,” said the Avenger.
‘He could spit in my face an’ I wouldn’t lift
:11! h2g6, because we used to be pards. I never
urgi
The 6 es of the leader of the Twelve dro
abashedy pped

Mohave Bill rode slowly off; but suddenly his
horse stopped and whipping out his deadl revol-
ver, he turned half way round in the sad 1e. _

“ The boy hez got the secret, an’ the mountain
0V gold Will make a fool 0v Carlos!” fell from
his lips. “Besides, the young ’un was Dago—
bert’s Hard last night I”

The welve saw the Avenger’s movements and
seemed to divine his intention.

Carlos uttered a cry of rage, and the Boss Cac-
tus hastened to snatch Navajo Nick from his
saddle. Six revolvers were drawn and lifted
agﬁinst Mohave Bill, but too late.

is formidable weapon spoke hoarsely before
a mountain man could cover him, and the Boy
Gold Hunter pitched backward with a cry whic
drew a responsive. oath from the ’hps of the

elve.
Mohave Bill had shot the secret from their
hands!

 
CHAPTER X.
IN NAVAJO CANYON.

I’ve been hyar afore.
' Things look kind 0’ nat’ral. I recognize them
W rocks up that an’ thet petriﬁed tree.
let this place rather sudden hke.
0‘7 Navajoes war behind me, an’— But why tell
the story to you, ll Nouse 0v it; not ‘a bit.”
,. Dng‘obert and elen had reached the famous
ch, which is one of the wonders oi: Northern
‘ Phone. The remnant of a once mighty river
wandered through it; once it hissed and bub-
blﬁd botween the stony walls that towered for
“Van hundred feet above it, but now it would
; hot ﬂoat the li htest of Indian canoes. The sun-
Bﬂht seldom k seed the tiny stream; from wall
to W011 cooling shadows lay all day long.
Along the right hand wall when one entered
, from the west, ran a well-beaten bridle-path,
M D‘Kobert

\

I
A yellin’ tribe ,

 
and his companion had not yet '

1"
chosen it, for the Man with Two Names had
stopped at the mouth of the canyon to survey
it as he had done before.

“ You haVe been here before you say?” said
Helen looking into his bearded face.

" al, yes. I war after the same trail I’m on
now.”

“ The mountain of gold!”

“Jes’ so. on see we always had an idea
thct it was somewhar in this part 0v creation."

“ VVel” asked Helen curiously.

" Me an! Nick. We came up hyar an’ ran-
sacked thls whole kentry but found nothin'.
Thar isn’t a cave nor a canyon hyar thet I don’t
know. Wal, arter we had tramped it over an’
over fer a year er so, a brig-ht scheme pop
into my head. It war to send Nick into the u~
Jun camp whar he war to live until he got old
Alapntha’s Secret. The boy, a mere baby then,
didn’t ﬂinch; he ruther liked the plan, an’ one
day he left me. We made an agreement thet he
wasn’t to leave the Injuns until he had the
Secret. I went to Mohave City, an’ thar I war
Caxtaiu Flash fur four years. The youngster
he grit: he’s the boss boy ov these parts. our
years! jes’ think ov it. I waited fer him to
come to Mohave, for he war bound to come
some time the sun warn’t surer to rise than
thet. Wal, he did come!” and Da _bert’s eyes
lit up with triumph. “An' he h the secret
too! But he war folleredéfollered by a cussid
spy who carried a pi eon in his bosom. We set
out fer this canyon t 9 same night he got to me,
but he ain’t h ar now. You hev given me hope

al' you sa bet the Injun lasso dropped over
ick’s shou ders jes’ afore his boss started—"

“ I thought so at any rate.”

“Then it did! The' boy ain’t dead l” ex-

claimed Dagobert. “ He may hev for otten
whar this canyon is an' he may not. If e hez
not under the existin’ circumstances I hev
thought best to come h ar. N 0 use to hunt ’im
back onder in the B ack Forest. We started
fur avajo Canyon; an’ he, hevin’ lost me,
would naturally seek me hyar.”
. Helen could not but admit the logic contained
in Dagobert’s conclusions, and her gaze went
down the famous canyon as if she expected to
seethe ﬁgure of Navajo Nick. "

But the shadows did not yield up the adven-
turous boy. '

“In the ﬁrst place we must ﬁnd a ranch"
continued Captain Flash. “ We’ll try our old
one.

A few minutes latei‘ the couple entered a
cavern, into which a tall man could easily ride,
and I‘lielen slid from Dagobert’s arms to the
groun .

“ This war our headquarters four years ago,” '~
said the man. i '
A match soon dissipated a portion of th
gloom, and a ﬁre kindled on the cavern/ﬂoor - '
revealed the interior of the place. ' Helen knew
the gulches of Arizona abounded in such caves,
and she did not, therefore, express any aston-
ishment at the dimensions of the one into which

her companion had conducted her.

All at once she heard a strange exclamation
and saw Dagobert, torch in hand, staring a \
some writing on one of the grayish walls.

“They’ve been hyar, too!” 8 said, without

    
13 The Boy Gold Hunter.

 
seeing her approach. “Now, I kin read the
name 0v every man.”
Curiously enough on the wall before Dagobert

were twelve names, headed by the word “ Car-

los,” and the man from Mohave pronounced

each one in tones of eternal hatred.

“ What! on h ar, gal l" exclaimed the gold
hunter, noticing also at his side. “ Wa], thar
they ar’, the doomed Twelve of Arizona. They-
’ve been hyar since I hev, an’ they registered on
the book that lasts forever.”

The names had been cut into the wall, and by
the hand of no novice, either, as Dagobert had
discovered by running his bronzed ﬁngers over
the surface. . ~

“I’m goin’ to l’arn ’ein by heart,” he said,
smiling. “ One ov these days when I git the
drop on the hull gang, ez I hed the other night,
lIt’lllll ,call ’em by name. Then I’ll proceed to

‘ l

“ How you must hate them, Dagobert,” said
Helen.

“Hate ’em? wal I should smile,” was the an-
swer. “ They ain’t all hyar, though. One is
missin’—Mohave bill.”

“ And Monte 1”

“Monte? I had tux-gotten him alread . El?
be war livin’ him an Mohave woul save
{may by buyin’ one pa‘r ov gloves between

em ,

Daéobert laughed maliciously as he spoke.

“ elenl” he said, wheeling suddenly upon the
wait of the train and speaking her name for the
ﬁrst time. “ I wish you hed never reached this
wild kentry. It isn t the place fur you, but
while you ar’ hyar I’m yer pertector. Man
lives on man in Arizona; red hunts white, and

"White trails red, jes’ like so many Wild animals.
I’ve carried my life in my hands fur fifteen
years among these canyons, but not all the time
fur one ob'ect. I‘ve been lookin’ fur the moun-
tain 0v gel1 —”

“ Which may not exist.” _

“Now you’ve left the track,” said Dagobert,
qbuffkly. “ It does exist. Thar’s lots ov gold in
1: region. I hev proof ov that.”

“ Proof?” echoed Helen. , ,

“Yes; thet is of I can ﬁnd suthin’ I hid last
summer.« Sta hyar a while.”

Dagobert se acted a new ﬂambeau from the
ﬁre and hurried away. Helen watched his torch
until it became like a distant star, and ﬁnally
disappeared. Then she sat down at the edge of
the ﬂrelight, and thought of her changed for-

unes. ~

A week before she was the happiest person in
the little wagon train moving slowly toward
Tucson; now, the sole survivor of the devoted
emigrants. she was the companion of a strange
iran whose thoughts dwelt constantly on two
things-gold and vengeance. She had trusted
to his guidance, for she had no one else to trust
and now she was alone in one of the deserted
canyons of Arizona, dreamIeSS of what an hour
mi ht bring forth.

he minutes were awa , but the Man with
Two Names did not come ack.
The girl grew impatient, restless, at last fear-

he rose and went to the corridor amid whose
gloomthe strange man’s torch had burned last

 
for her eyes.
worded her. ,

The corridor went upward like a stairway;
'Helen saw the rough stone steps which Dago—
but had lately trod. Did they lead to the top
of the canyon seven hundred feet above? No
human hand had ever quarried out those count-
less steps: nature’s chisel and that alone had
formed them.

Helen held her breath as she looked and lis-
tened at the bottom of the stair.

Suddenly she started and uttered a cry "of

But not a glimmer, not a ﬂash re-

ope.

Something was falling down the steps. bound-
ing from stone to stone like a pebble loosened
above.

“ Dagobert at last," said Helen.

Nearer and nearer came the descending ob-
ject still unseen. It had a metallic ring, but
{she iii-l did not notice this. She drew back to
at t
right time for the next second it jumped from
the bottom step like a thing of life and lay at
her feet.

The waif of the train drew back, an exclama-
tion of horror on her lips, and her eyes dilated
and ready to start from their sockets, glared at
the object which had come down t e stony
size S.

t was not a rook, but a huge bowie-knife and I

one which she recognide

“ Merciful heavens! it is the bowie which I
saw last sticking through the dead hand at the
mountain den i” she exclaimed, almost shrink-
ing from the blade. “Yes, it is the same!
Dagobert left it there when we rode from the
s t. Now it is here! What has , happened
amveﬂme? and who brought that knife to this
p e.

Helen was answered only by the echo of her
voice, and, becoming calmer, she picked up the
dirk. Her eyes had not deceived her; the hilt
was the hilt she had seen on Monte’s hand; but
the blade, broken at the point, was now covered
with a moisture that drove a shudder through
her heart. It was somebody’s blood, Dago-
hert’s most likely, for the knife had evidently
been used above the stair h an enemy.

Thgogirl found herself teniug once more at
the l‘ of the stairwa .

“Come what may, am going up,” she said,
resolutely, as her hand tightened around the
hilt of the bowie. “ D obert and I are friends.
His enemies are mine. have told him this. I
will prove it!”

Our heroine sprung into the darkened corri-
dor and began to ascend. The ascent was not
diﬁcult, but it promised to be an endless one.

After awhile Helen paused for breath. All
was darkness above and below; she did not
know how near the top she was.

Suddenly her heart stood still. A wild rough
voice had assailed her ears.

“Now down you go. Cl’ar the track;” it

said.

Helen instinctively hugged one of the walls
of the nude ound stair. The voice which
sounded like agobert’s seemed to tell her that
she was in danger of being hurled to the bottom

by something about to be thrown down the V

causeway.

9 stone fall into the lightnand just at the -

 
H an, :- QDS‘ Sgggﬂgg:

A

 
.
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5

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I

Nor was she mistaken. A moment later an
01) eat that could not be seen shot past her like
8. ascending bowlder, and the girl uttered a cry
Of terror.

It was not a rock but a man, for a hand had
actually brushed her cheek!

Helen did not hear the sickening thud that
Came up from below an instant later, for with a
sWoonjng cry she, brave as she was, sunk on the
Stones, and the crimson bowie dropped from her
ﬁerveless hand.

The wail could not have been heard for no-
body came down the natural stair.

_By and by Helen opened her eyes; darkness
still surrounded her, and eager to escape its
thrall she crept down the steps. She shuddered
When she thought of the sight that would greet
her eyes at the foot of the stones 1f the ﬁre still

urned in the cavern. She could not escape it,
and therefore she went forward emboldened by
inevitable. ,

The ﬁre was still alive, and the wait of the
train sawahuman ﬁgure lying on the rocky
ﬂoor of the cave. She approached and bent
over it.

Before her lay the man who had been hurled
down the stairway.

Helen saw that he was an Indian, and as
gazed he opened his eyes, gasped once and

i
The girl turned away. She had seen many
Indians; to her they were all alike.

She did not notice that this one had a band

around his left arm—a band made from the hide

’of a buffalo.
A member of the League of the Buffalo Band!

 
CHAPTER XI.
WHEN OLD FOEB MEET.
WHAT had happened in the caverns above the

, waif of the train? Let us see.

When Dagobert left Helen, it was _with the
avowed purpose as we know of ﬁndin proof
that the mountain of gold was not a myt . The
light of triumph glittered in his eyes, as, torch
in hand. he went up the steps. He had ev1dently

' scaled the ascent before.

“Ef the rocks ar’ whar ‘we left ’em four
years ago, I’ll make her eyes snap,” he said,
talking to himself,- in a semi-audible tone.
“The must be thar, for we war alone when
Wehi ‘em.” _

Dagobert was not permitted to reach the top
of the stair without having his thoughts turned
into'other channels. _

Stopping suddenly, he put out his torch and
drew his knife then are t upward until the
stair ended. H’s was on evel ground, but far
beneath him his lkeeﬁezyes saw the light of the
ﬁre he had latel in . .

“ I’m not aloha!" he thought. “Somebody’s
hyar besides Dngobert. InJuns, mebbe.”

“I am’ hyarl”

Dagobert sprung backvat the three words.
They seemed to answer his thoughts, for he had

1: k aloud.
“imam. time a hand struck his throat and

closed 11 n it, but the giant tore it loose and
grep l with its owner. .

“ you ar’ hyar eh? I’m glad ov it. I don’t
want to take sdvan ov you, though. You’ve

The Boy Gold Hunter.

 
19

got but one hand. I‘ve got two. Ef you‘ll go
below, we’ll ﬁght equally. I’ll tie one ov my
hands, or the gal shall do it, nn‘-—”

“No! I’ve Seen Monte; that war worth two
hands to me,” was the answer, and again the
speaker made a dart at Dngobcrt’s trachea.

“ Ar’ you alone, Mohave?” asked the Man
with Two Names. ‘

" Alone? D’ye think I’d hunt you with a regi-
mental band, an’ a squad of helpers?”

“ I know what you did among the Buseltics:
you warn’t alone then.” .

“ But I am alone now I”

“ You lie, Mohave l”

Dagobert’s foe hissed forth an oath.

“ You’ve got help with you. I hear ’em,”
said Dagobert. '
“ 3' my mother’s gravel I came hyar alone;
but e —”

“ Injuusl"

A heavy ﬁgure leaping from the gloom had
fallen upon the enemies. They fell apart, strik-

ing madly with their knives at the ew foe,
who, whirling with a cry of ain. tore ohave’s
dirk from his grasp and hur ed it awe . Strik-

ing near the landing of the stair, it fel forward,
and bounding from stone to stone, leaped into
the cave below to horrif the anxious ‘l.

Dagobert did not entirely relin ui his hold
on the Indian; but securing it, e drove his
bowie into his breast, and in a. moment of rage
bore him to the causeway, down which he ﬂung
him headlong.

Then he turned back to renew the struggle
with his whiter antagonist, but no sign 0 3
presence reached him.

“ Whar ar’ ye, Mohave?” he asked.

No answer. '

“ You’re a coward as ov oldl” grated D o-
bert. “I’ve settled yer Injun an’ amread ur
the rest ov the gang. Not alone, eh? o, ov
course not! You hevn’t lost the facult ov
lyin’ since you left the Basaltic Buttes. hy
don’t you come on?”

A sound more like the grow] of an enraged
tiger than the voice of a human being came
from a point at Dagobert’s right hand. ‘

“Oh, that you ar’ eh?” exclaimed the Man
Evitvh’ Two Names. " hat ar’ you holdin’ back
or

“ You’ve disarmed me." came from the dark-
ness. “ Whar’s my knife?”

“ Haven’t you got one, Mohave?” ,
_ “No. I struck the Injun with mine; he tore
agpt’ov my hand. He warn’t my Injun, Dago-

“ We’ll hunt for your knife. I mean to give
you a fair show.”
‘ A moment later the deadly enemies were
‘ feeling the ground ” for the lost bowie which
Dagobert little sus ted had late] belonged to
him. Their shoul ers almost touc ed on several
occasions, but neither uttered a word.
“ Mebbe,” said Dagobert. ‘* it fell down-
stairs.”
“'P’r’aps,” replied Mohave Bil].
loan me a knife?”
“ I hev but one now. I left one at the shanty
the other night. ” '
_The one-handed Avenger let a cry escape
1111.

“You can’t

 
20 The Boy Gold Hunter.

 
“ That’s the one I‘ve lost!” he said.

Dagobert sprung up. The man before him
wasanenemy indeed; he had taken his bowie
from Monte’s dead hand and had been hunting
.him with it.

“ You hev a revolver. Mohave?" he said.

“ I bed one jes‘ afore I got hyar. My boss
stumbled an‘ throwed me over his head into the
creek thet runs through the canyon, an’ I lost
my weepin. I'm helpless, Dagobert; but I want
to ﬁ ht you jes’ ez bad.”

“5m sorry I kin help you in no way hyar,”
Dagobert said. “ But ef you‘ll go down—"

“ I’d go to the place 0v torment to ﬁght you J”
was the interruption. “ You killed Monte; thet
is all I want to know. Dagobert.”

“ Yes, I did kill Monte: he’s but one ov the
three; you’re another an’ I‘m goin’ to serve you
the same way!”

“ Not to-nig’ht!”

“ Tonight! '

Mohave Bill laughed.

“ We’ll go down an’ see my old acquaintance,”
he said, ‘ I‘m eager to try conclusions with

As the stony stairway was wide enough to let
two persons go down side by side, the enemies
descended in that manner.

They stepped over the body of the Indian, evi-
dently a spy belonging to red gold league, and
looked at each other.

As they did so Helen uttered a cry of surprise
and came forward; but Dagobert’s look checked
her. It told her that those two men were not
friends.

Astrauge light appeared in the eyes of Mohave
Bill as they encountered Helen.

“Purtyez a pink!” he murmured. “ I wonder
whar Dagobert diskivered thet bonanza. What
a pard she'd make fur a man like me! By George!
she’s worth ﬁghtin’ fur!”

Dagobert seemed to interpret the ﬂash of his
foeman’s eyes.

“ Yes, 'she’s a blossom — a arl!” he said.
£182: b’longs to me, Mohave. ow, ain’t she a

x What’s my knife?” cried the enemy.

“ Did a knife come down the steps, gall” asked
the Man with Two Names.

“ A bowie-knife? Yes.”

Mohave Bill hailed the appearance of the
avenzing knife with an oath of joy.

“Hyar it is! In ‘un blood on it!” cried Dugo-
bert, extending to 111’s one hand the knife which
Helen prolfered. ‘

“ I’ll mix it with ours!” was the response, as
Mohave stepped bac and drew his ﬁgure to its
natural hig t.

“ Stand back, gal."

Helen was not loth to shrink from the imme-
diate resence of the two desperate characters,
who, t irsting for one another’s blood, stood face
to face with bowies in their hands.

The ladiators glared at each other for a mo-
ment. hen Mohave Bill sprung:1 at Dagobert,.
who, braced to meet him, did not ing more than
ward of! the blow aimed at his heart. ’

They stood within arm’s—length of each other’s
hearts now.

A plunge forward, a momentary closing, three

 
mad blows by the strongest arms in the Navajo
country and the men separated.

One reeled backward, dropping a bowie whose
blade was red; the other stood erect, holding a
knife crimsoned like its adversary.

“ Monte kin sleep now!” cried the man who
did not fall, as he glanced at the White-faced
girl. “ I told him, dead though he war, thet I’d
avenge ’im. I promised to throw Dagobert’s
right hand on his grave in the bushes. I keep
every oath I take!”

Mohave Bill strode toward Dagobert, whohad
fallen to the ground, with the brutal intention
of quitting off the hand which had maimed him
for i 0.

Helen (lid not seem to divine the Victor’s in-
tention until he was crouched over the hand he
wanted—nay, not until the fourteen-inch bowie
almost touched it.

Then she sprung to the ﬁre and caught up
the revolver which Dagobert had left her for
self- protection.

Mohave Bill saw her movement, and leaped

up.

“See hyar, my mountain pink!” he exclaim-
ed. n“I’m master hyar. Drop thet woepin,
er—

The girl’s answer was a pressure of the tri -
ger, and the burly form of the halfb s
avenger reeled backward to fall across the
bod of his deadliest foe.

elen stood for a. moment bewildered in the
smoke of her revolver, which she still heldin
her hand; then she sprun away. Dagobert’s
enemies were here as we 1, and she could not
believe that the two lying before her—the In-

dian and Mohave Bill—were alone in the neigh- v,

borhood.

The bowie had snatched her protector from
her, and the fate of her remaining friend—
Navajo Nick—was a matter of mystery.

Is it a wonder, then, that Black Mahomet, the
faithful horse, soon afterward carried the wait
of the train from the cave and into the great,
gloomy canyon?

“ I am alone, but I will ﬁnd friends,” said the
girl. “I have one who must be alive. Guide
me to him, Heaven; and together we will ﬁght
the men who hate us so tembly.”

The next moment the horse went down the
gulch, his shoes strikin ﬁre here and there on
the rocks. He seem
bearing) the most precious of burdens. When
he got eyond the mouth of the canyoahil gait
increased, but Helen held on. ’

What goaded Black Mahomet forward? She
had no spurs.

“ On, on he went, despite the 'rl’s eﬂorts to
check him. At last. covered mth foam and
panting heavily, he halted in a little valley and
tué‘ned his large eyes triumphantly upon his
r1 er.

“ You have carried me from some danger,
but what kind I do not know,” said Helen, look-
in? dow‘n into Mahomet’s face as she patted his

0 nec . !

At that moment the long howls of speck of
wolves faintly touched Helen‘s ears as if the lligMi
winds had wafted them a rent distance“

The horse heard them, or he raised his head
and listened. .

 
to know that he was'

 
hon
B

tro‘

iii.

4 .A‘urv RENE

   
‘iw an...

 5. 4: ".5

 
The Boy Gold Hunter. f 1

 
“We shall be wolf-chased! Onl on! Ma-
homet!” cried Helen.
t Btut the animal could not be urged int, a
ro

' He knew that he had already carried his fair
rider beyond the mountain hordes.

CHAPTER XII.
THE Boss CACTUS SURPRISED.

HELEN was not defenseless, for the revolver
which she had kept in her hand since her exit
from the canyon cave contained ﬁve charges.

To her, of course, the valley to which Black
Mahomet had borne her was a strange place.
Hemmed in by towering hills, densely wooded,
and ghostly looking, it might well appear to her
the valley of the shadow of Death.

Theghorse seemed 10th to leave the place; he
had distanced the wolves, and now he wanted to
rest where he knew they would not ﬁnd him. As
for Helen, she desired to go on, but whither she
knew not: Night was still about her; myriads
of stars lit the sky, and a strange light seen
through a pass told her that the moon rising over
the horizon would soon aﬂford the light that he-
trays fugitive people to their foes.

“ a must go on!” she said, speaking to the
horse. “ On, on, till dawn at any rate, my good
friend.”

But Mahomet chose his own gait, and sud-
denly, to Helen's despair, he halted and be n to
back into the shadows that fringed one si e of a
mountain pass.

Almost at the same moment the girl heard a

 
voice that made her

start.

“ The mountain men i” fell from her lips. “ I
came hither to fall back into their hands! I
cangot wrestle with fate; .the tide is against
me.

The im ulse which had caused the waif of the
train to ift the revolver passed awayas she
concluded, and her hand fe la 'ain at her side.
She kept the position to whic the horse had
forced her, and held her breath. .

A company of rough men were approaching;
that she knew, and, secretly guessmg at their
identity, she leaned forward to get a glimpse of
the cavalcade. I

Mahomet with that wonderful. instinct so
often found in the horse, stood like a statue
among the shades of the cliff. The pass was
not Wide, but Helen fervently prayed that the
hetwy boots of the mountain men would miss

‘ her as the. rode by.

Althoug prepared for the sight our heroine
started when her eyes fell upon the spectral
cavalcade. She bent down, and tried to hide
her ﬁgure behind the neck of her steed. She
silently counted the ﬁgures, but all at once she
uttered a faint cr . _ _

There was oneyﬂgure in the band which did
not belong to it. x V I .

“ The young gold hunter as I live!” ejaculated
Helen. ‘And a prisoner tool Ah! the lasso
did not ﬁnish him. Dagobert was right when he
said that he was alive somewhere: but Dagobert
is dead now. They will never continue the hunt
for the mountain of goldl, A captiyel and in
the bands of a band that Will have his secret or
his blood." .

Helen did not know that the Twelve had al-

 
ready drawn the latter, nor that Nave '0 Nick, ‘
at that moment, was apparently gui ’ g the
league to the precious mountain.

Her joy at beholding the Boy Gold Hunter
alive equaled her dismay at ﬁnding him a pris-
oner in the midst of the deadliest revolvers in
Arizona. She saw thata handkerchief had been
bound about his head as if to bandage a wound.
Beneath it the face of the boy was pale, almost
white; but his eyes burned with the brilliancy
of stars.

Neither the girl or the home moved while the
rough men of the Black Forest were ﬁling by.

Their numbers had been sli htly augmented;
the boy made the thirteenth ri er.

“My fortunes are linked to his,” Helen said.

“ He is the only friend I have left. He saved
me once, and I must pay him in like coin if I
can. I will not desert hini l”

Black Mahomet Seemed to know what was
wanted of him, for when Helen turned his head
toward the mountain men he did not resist al-
though he was going back toward Navajo dan-

you.

But before a mile had been traversed he stop-
ped. and began to back from the trail.

“ This horse is worth his weight in it: ,”
thought Helen. “Some person is coming ck
What if the Twelve have discovered that I am
following?”

A horse was approaching, and a few moments
later the girl saw the ﬁgure of his rider.

To her orror he drew rein so near that Helen
might have touched him by leaning forward.

“ It’s kind 0’ queer,” he said. “ I heard a boss
behind us, but now, bless me of I hear a cricket.
I’ve got to ﬁx up some stor before I 0 back,
fur I told Carlos that I’d t my life her war
a boss behind us. Fooled, by gingol What’s
the matter with yer ears, Cactus ”

Helen started at the name. It was the cog-
nomen of the man who had followad Nick from
the Navajo country—the spy with the carrier
pigeon.

“ So you are the Boss Cactus? Well, I am
here!” she said abruptly.

The mountain spy almost reeled from his sad-

e.

“You? Jehosaphat!” he cried. “A gal, by
hoke I” v
“ girl and an Avenger!”‘said Helen steme
througi tightening lips. “You are lookin
into the revolver which has iiust killed one 0
your kind. Move, shout for be p, or lift a hand
and I’ll scatter your brains over moonshine and
shadow!”

The Boss Cactus was at the mercy of the
waif of the train. Her outstretchedarm held
a pistol against his face: his brain was at the
inercy of the ﬁnger that rested lightly on the

rig er. _ ,

“ ou‘ve 0t me!" he said. “I never deny
the truth. on hold a cold deck that would
swamp the best ov the boys. What do you
War? With ’2‘“? T 1 was t ith

es ote, wevewaseager aw I.
the girllyabove all things, he wanted the revol-
ver removed fromhhis face. htAs heﬂvgasxwont to
sa :“The sk tinizmi R00 I

xWhat (f: Iywant’l” ec oed Helen. “The
truth ﬁrst; obedience next." ‘

 
- 4c. ,.

22

l

The Boy Gold Hunter.

 
“ Wal, sail in," said the uneasy man.

“ Whither are you bound now—the Twelve I
mean?”

“ To Navajo Canyon.”

“ And from there?”

“ To the bonanza 1”

_Helen started.

“ You’ve got the young old hunter?”

“Of course. I see you now it, an’ I might
ez well tell the truth. We war bound to git
’im, gal. You can't keep a secret from Cap’n
Carlos.”

“ But you have not obtained Nick’s.”

“ Wal, we hev, or what is jes’ ez good; he’s
leadin’ ’em to the bonanza, to—night.”

Helen‘s eyes said: “ Impossible.”

“We nearly lost it awhile back," continued
the Cactus who seemed to be communicative.
“ Mohave Bill shot him.”

“ Shot the boy?”

“ Wal, yas. But the bullet only plowed along
his temple. By George! it war a c ose shave!”

The girl seemed to shudder, but at the same
time her eyes grew bright with a strange tri-
umph. Perhaps her thoughts had gone back to
her deed in the can on cave. Mohave Bill had
attempted Navajo ick’s life, and she, without

knowing it had avenged the dastardly shot.

“ Where is Mohave Bill?” she asked the Cactus
in a curious tone.

“ He got away."

“ I found him.”

u Wharf»

“ In Navajo Canyon as you call it. I left him
there—dead!”

An oath dropped from the spy’s ﬁgs.

fADon’t you ever let Carlos ﬁnd 1; at out,” he
sai :

“ Why not?”

“The war ards; the one would die fur the
other efy they did part in bad humor when Mo.
have shot the gold bo . You’re a gal, pretty an’
all that, but don’t let arlos know that you Wlped

Mohave out. He’d tear you like a tiger tears an
antelope!”
“Do on think I fear your captain?” ﬂashed
the  quickly. “In this country, as I am
fast earning, one must fear nothing. Now for
the second part; obedience. I am going to let
you go back to your partners.”

The Cactus appeared to breathe freer.

“But not unconditionally,” continued Helen.
‘5 You mus ﬁrst swear that you will obey me.
You mountain men respect an oath. I have
seen enough of our class to know that.”

f‘ When the 033 Cactus swears he plays
fair ” the spy said. gravely.

" weer. then. that you will carry a message
to Navajo Nick from me, and that you will
withhold from Captain Carlos the truth concern-
ing your meeting with the person who slew
Mohave!” .

The long hand of the Cactus was lifted, and
from beneath his mustache came the mono.
syllables, “ I sw’ar!”

“ Now, go back and tell the boy secret! that I
am near, that I will be nearer still w en he
needs me.” _

Helen paused abruptly as if she hesitated at
the threshold of imparting some important
news. ‘

 
No! she would not tell Nick that Dagobert

gas dead, to discourage him, and make the eyes

the man before her glisten with joy.

“ Is that all?” asked the Cactus.

“ That is all. Remember your oath. Go!"

“I'd like to say one word,” said the man
hesitating. “ I want to say fur yer own good
that you‘ve been puttin‘ yerself to a good deal
0v trouble fur nothin’, fur nothin’ at all. You
can’t buck ag’in’ Cap’n Carlos an’ his ti rs

They’ve got the boy in their clutches, an all -

earth can’t take ’im out. Ef you know the

way, go back, fur sooner er later he‘ll know ’

that you killed Mohave, an’ then—why then,
yer life wouldn’t be worth a sage bush! l don’t
charge anything fur this advice. I don‘t want
Carlos an’ his men to hunt a gal, but you can’t
help the boy. You might ez well try to rescue
a rabbit from a cage ov Wildcats.”

Helen saw that the Cactus was in earnest: he
Seemed to have forgotten that she had lately
thrust a cocked revolver into his face.

“However, I’ll keep my oath to the letter,”
he went on: “ but you can’t keep the youngster
from conductin’ us to the bonanza.”

“ And after that?”

“ It all depends on Cap’n Carlos."

“That settles it! Now I will go back. Go
and keep your oath.”

She dismissed the Cactus with a wave of the
hand and saw him ride away.

“ Thet gal’ a fool!” he grated, as his horse
struck into a gallop. “ Somehow or other she’s
enlisted my sympathy, an’ bles me ef I don’t
feel like givin’ her a lift !”

“You do, eh? There! take that, traitor!”

A revolver had ﬂashed in the Bos Cactus’s
face, and betrayed b his own words, he reeled
from (the saddle to all like a dead-man on the

oun .

“ Mebbe I war a little hasty,” said the slayer.
“ But I believe in nippin’ such treasons in the
bud. So he saw a
one in these parts! S e heard the shot an’ will
keep away. Let her keep off. We ar’ near

1

_' 1 back that: thar is but

the bonanza now; too near to be bothered by a

girl.”

The man was Captain Carlos, and the next
moment, leading the spy’s horse by the bridle,
he galloped toward his men.

Searcer had he assed beyond sight when the
Boss Cactus stirred. All starlight shots are not
deadly ones.

He got upon his feet and grated his teeth till
they seemed to crack. while he listened to the
receding hoof-beats of the two horses.”

“ We’ve dissolved partnership, Cap’n Carlos!”
he hissed. “ Et’ you ever work that gold mine,

may the Boss Cactus marry the man in the .

moon! From this hour I am fur Dagohert, the
young gold hunter, and the gal !”

CHAPTER XIII.
rnn rwo LEAGUES or GOLD.

. CAPTAIN CARLOS found ten men waiting with
great eagerness for his return. They were not
mounted but stood on the._ ground, each one he-
hind his horse, and in their bronxed hands were
regs-ﬁling riﬂes.

’6 ad happened? . _
“ Injunsl" said several, in low and signiﬁcant

 
1

\

 
ma

 
srw‘,

on my:

 
The Boy Gold Hunter.  V» N ‘ 88

tones, as their leader joined their ranks. “ The
red gold hunters, er we’re not livm’i”

Carlos did not speak, but looked over the sad-

dles as if he sought the position of the foe.
, The mountain men glanced at the Cactus’s
steei, which had come back to them riderless.
A few seemed about to ask the ca tain what
had become of the spy. He sawt cir glances
and said:

“ Thar’s a dozen ov us no longer. You heard
the revolver? It wiped out the Boss Cactus.
Whar ar’ the Injunsi I don’t see ’em, an’ my
eyes ar’ez good ez they ever war.”

“Nobody‘s seen ’em, cap’n; but we’ve heard
’em, which ar’ jes’ ez good!

“ Not by a long shot,” retorted Carlos. “ You
don‘t See an Injun but you know they’re up
thar because you’ve card suthin’—-is thet it?”

The eyes of his followers dropped before his
accusin look.

“ e 1 0 forward. Mount!”

The or or was obeyed, but the next instant

sha cracks of Indian riﬂes awoke the
echoes o the mountains, and one-half of the
Twelve reeled from their saddlesto strike the
ground dead!
~ Ca tain Carlos grated his teeth.

“ own! the devils are going to charge us l”

It was true; the char ‘ng w 00p of the Nava-
joes rung out like a c non blast, and as the
mOimtain men dropped behind their steeds once
more their red foes came thundering forward.

I They were permitted to approach until Carlos
uttered the word “ ﬁre!” then six riﬂes em tied
as many Navajo blankets, and the remain or of
the band drew hack.

“ Keep it up i” said Carlos. “ Don’t give them
time to reform."

The gold 1e ers needed no such commands;
the were continuing the battle and a perfect
hai of lead was leaping from their deadly

ters.
he Indians, unable to withstand such punish-
ment, drew off, carryin with them those of
their number who had alien; but as they did
so, they sent up a ell of deﬁance which told
the mountaineers t at they had by no means
given up the contest.

Nava 0 Nick fought in self—defense man
the d-seekers. he ﬁrst deadly volley 0%
the ndians had 8 red him; in this it had
proved more merci ul than Mohave Bill’s is-
tol. Besides, he hated the red foes; for ad
they not fastened him with a lasso to the tail
of his own horse?

He knew that his smallest movement was
watched by his captors even in thelthickest of
the nocturnal battle; but pretending not to
notice this espionage, he fought as though the
mountaineers were his comrades. -

After the repulse a connoil of war was held,
and the gold hunters discussed the propositions
submitted by Captain Carlos. .

It was Nick’s ﬁrst experience of the kind; but
he took no part although he listened attentively.
He was anxious to learn what Carlos would do.

It was decided to hold the ground till morn-
ing, for the mountaineers had sworn not to turn
their backs on the mountain of gold and in their
Net’s expressive words, they would “ keep the
row we!" , ‘ *

An hour of stran e silence awa ; the
wounded horses had nquiet y put out 0 their
misery, and side by side they lay in the starlight
with their late riders.

The Boy Gold Hunter, crouching at the foot
of a. bush with a cocked carbine waited for a
renewal of hostilities. Captain Carlos, thou ht—
fnl but a veritable watch—dog almost touc ed
him with his broad shoulders. The suspense was
terrible.

“They are not goin to attack us again," he
ventured to Carlos. “ he have left us.”

“Don’t you know the avagoes an better
than thet?’ was the repl . “ hey attack
us ez sure ez death. I wish they would i”

As if to realize the ca tain’s wish, a sound en-
tered the Silent camp; t e men prepared to re-
ceive the charge.

“ The tug ov war is h arl” said Carlos. " We
win er die. Let every 5 0t tell. The man that
misses sha’n’t hev a hand in the ‘ divide’ when
we et it.”

ick held his breath as he raised his carbine.

“ Hyar they come 1”

At that moment the foe that never sleeps—
the red Indian—poured a volley into the old
league’s camp, but it was badly aimed, and ew

no one.

Quick as a ﬂash the shots were answered, and
tililen came the wild war-whoops of the second
c arge.

“ tan’ ﬂrml” cried Captain Carlos. “ We
win or die l” ’

As the Indians had a goodl distance to ride
over before reaching the gold unters they were
compelled to do so in the face of a hail-storm of
carbine-bullets which des ite the uncertain light
emetied a number of sad les.

aptain Carlos and Nick stood side by side,
protected by two horses. The be was actually
a prisoner, for the leader of the
cured him to his own person with a stout lamat
which encircled his waist. Carlos was deter-
mined that the boy with the secret should not be
as rated from him.

hose who assert that the Indian invariably
shelters his body while ﬁghting would have
changed their opinion if they had seen the Nava-
joes ridin fearlessly upon the death—dealin
gleamns o the determined enemies who op

em.

The carbines were ﬁred so incessantly and
With such a deadly eﬁect as they advanced
that for a moment they reooiled. But a loud
shout from their leader took them forward
swig, and they rode into the very jaws of

ea

Our young hero saw Ca taln Carlos throw his
carbine aside with an oat - it was empty; the
foe was upon them; he could not reload.

Drawing his revolver the mountaineer thrust
his long arms forward and ﬁred with a rapidity
that astonished Nick, who with an empty riﬂe
could no longer assist in repelling the assault.

All this scene did not seem tolast a minute.
The valor of the Twelve did not a pear to avail
them an ht. The last charge coul not be resist-
ed by a gandful of men, d rate though they
were. The Indians came Own upon 1: e

 
like a pack of wolves maddened by the scent of
 1

/

welve had se- ‘

camp,

\\

 
24

 
The Boy Gold Hunter.

  
“ Come! You an’ I fur the bonanza, boy!”
said the harsh voice of Captain Carlos, and Nick
felt himself almost lifted from the ground and
hurried away.

He was not 10th to leave the battle-ﬁeld, not
even when his conductor and preservcr was the
man who would have his secret or his blood.

Carlos had escaped at an opportune moment,
and he and Navajo Nick did not pause until in
a little gulch a mile away, they heard but the
echoes of the Indians’ yells.

“ Let ’em cheat Carlos out 0v the golden hill
of they can 1” he exclaimed. his eyes ﬂashing-
with triumph. “ We’re worth a hull nation ov
dead men. There don’t live the red-skins what
kin beat our cold deck. Hit, eh?”

“ I’m not hit,” said Nick, starting.

“ I thought you war from the way you looked.
Yauﬁlgu’t see anything, do you?”

The boy’s heart was beating strangely and
well it might. ,

A shadow, if not a substance, was not far
away;his stare had been seen by Carlos, but
thanks to his presence of mind, it had not be-
trayed him.

‘ Dagobert!” thought the young gold hunter.
“ Dagobert, my friend! Ah! I knew you would
not desert me.”

What if the eager eyes of Captain Carlos
should see the ﬁgure crouching scarcely ten
feet away? A spring or a shot and the career
of the would-be rescuer would be ended for-

ever.

But the leader, and. perhaps, the sole survivor
of the Mountain League did not see. 9 turned
upon Nick after listenin to the echoes of the
battle awhile and asked a ruptly:

“ Do you know whar you ar’l”

The boy shook his head.

“We’re within a hundred rods ov Navajo
Canyon, our ﬁrst ob'ective p‘int.”

The boy started. avajo Canyon! He could
not forget the name. From that place he knew
the actual hunt for the gold mountain must be-

n.

“ So we are near the canyon?” he said.
.“ Good! I am willin that we shall go to it. The
sooner the better per aps,”

Captain Carlos started off and Nick followed.
He was still lasso-joined to the man who wanted
his secret.

Although the young gold-seeker was afraid to
even lance over his shoulder, he believed that
Dago rt was liding along. The Man with
Two Names con d not think of desertiug him in
such a Situation; Nick felt that he was only
waiting for an opportunity.

All at once at t e and of the narrow gulch a
ﬁgure leaped between Captain Carlos and his
prisoner.

A knife severed the lasso as it had been
twine, and as the leader of the Twelve turne‘i
upon the rescuer he was ﬂung awav, revolvers
and all. to fall in the shadows of the towering
cliﬂ's of Navajo Canyon. _

Our hero uttered a cry of Joy as Carlos reeled
from the ﬁst of his deliverer, and hedid not hesi-
tate to follow the hand that closed on his wrist,
and led him away.

He was free at last! He and Dagobert had

 
met again to trium h over all their foes and
to ﬁnd and enjoy t e riches of the hidden
mountain.

“I’m payin’ him back, cuss his onery gig-
ters!” exc aimed the rescuer, as he he] .

“ You did not think thet I’d turn on Carlos?
No! I guess you didn‘t, from the way ﬁn
stare. I in the Boss Cactus 0v Arizona. 0
(l’ye think I am?”

Navajo Nick could not speak; he could only
stare into the wild face which, until that mo-
mont, he had thought belonged to his stanch
friend Dagobert.

He instinctively recoiled from the sight.

“ You’ll git used to me,” said the aunt fellow,
following him up, with a laugh. “ ’m no sage-
bush. I’m one ov the lost arts, as it were; a
cactus whose spines sometimes kill! Me an’
Cap’n Carlos hev dissolved. The Boss Cactus
is your friend. You kin trust ’im. What d’yer

sa ?”

Trust that spy? Nick thought of his ﬁrst in-
troduction to him, the carrier pigeon, and the
face at the window in Mohave City.

“ You think I’m settin’ up a cold deck on c,"
said the Cactus; “ an’ I don‘t blame you, sit er.
I’ll got ask you ag’in to trust me till you've tried
me.

“Yes,” replied Nick, “ I’ll try you ﬁrst.”

CHAPTER XIV.
THE TRAIL OF BLOOD.

THE man, upon whom the Boss Cactus leaped

at the mouth of Navajo Canyon, was not long
scrambling to his feet, but, nick as he was
the sound of Nick’s footsteps hadalready died
away.
“The Cactus! the traitor!” he exclaimed.
“Alive. an’ turned squarely a ‘in’ me! He
wants the secret, too, eh? Huntin it on his own
book, I s’pose, an’ now that he’s got the boy,
he’s crowin’ over the vict’ry he hez 'es’ won.
What ailed my eye when I kivered is head
awhile ago? War it ordained that I should
merely graze him? Next time I’ll hit center.
Take care, Cactus! Captain Carlos is on yer
track!”

The leader of the Twelve went down the
canyon with his ﬁngers at the triggers of
his revolvers. His mad eyes, but keen, saw
everg bush, every crevice; his ears caught every
soun . ,

He had lost for the present the Be Gold
Hunter and his secret; for the present on y. He
was not the man to think for a moment that
the great secret had slipped through his hands
forever.

“ Ef I could ﬁnd Mohave an' ﬁx matters right
with him," he muttered. “I war too mad to
talk decently to ’im when I saw ’im last. His
blood war hot about Dagobert killin’ Monte,
which war bound to come to some day.
Mohave nearly shot the Secret from my ﬁst, but
a miss in such cases is a mile. I could count on
Mohave’s help at I could ﬁnd him. But whar is
he?"

 
Yes. where was the half- reed’s Avenger!

We left him lying on the . an with Two Names
in the cave in NavaJo Canyon Helen had ﬁred
at his nnhandsome face and ﬂed- she did not
tarry to inquire into the result of her shot. but

   
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18

   
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The Boy Gold Hunter. 25

 
/ the fall of the desperado told her that it had
killed. That was enough; Dagobert and his
hunter might sleep in death together.

Captain Carlos continued down the gloomy
gulch until the mouth of the cavern yearned be-

ore him.
‘ “ The old rendezvous!” fell from his lips.
‘ Hyar’s whar we lived all last summer while
huntin’ fur the gold mountain. I never expected
come back alone; but alone I am—the last
man ov the Twelve.” .
_ The opening seemed to invite him; he went in
Just 8,8 the long arrows of another daylight were
entering the canyon.

To Carlos, as we have just heard him remark,
the cave was not unknown; the names cut in
the stone walls told the story_ of the rendezvous.
He soon found himself in the great apartment
which still contained an unnatural heat, that did
not escape the man's notice.

The warmth of the ﬁre kindled a few hours
before by Dagobert still remained, although the
Cinders were cheearless and dark.

los was surprised to discover the few live
coals which his feet unearthed, and for a while
he crouched beside them, usin his eyes and ears,
and with his hand on his revo ver.

But as nothing disturbed him, he fanned the
coals into a. blaze with which he lighted a

torch.

“ I’ll look around a little afore I settledown,”
he remarked, in a half-audible tone. “ I want
to know who left this ﬁre.”

Starting up with the torch, he took a step to-
ward the stone stairway, but the next instant a
noise made him turn to the right.

’ “ Mohave Billl” he ejaculated.

The re of a man was braced against the
wall a ew steps away, .the lank, well-known
ﬁgure of Monte s avenger.

Carlos sprun toward him, but stopped sud~
denly and recoi ed with a cry of horror.

Mohave with a horrible expression on his
bloodless face was holding out two handless

arms!

“ Look! Carlos,” he hissed. “ I found him. He
took the other hand. If you had followed me I
would not be dyin’ hyar with Monte un-
aveuged.” _ g _

Captain Carlos did not stir. The eight of the
robbed arms seemed to have nailed him to the
ﬂoor of the cavern; his eyes stared at the pic-
ture of mountain vengeance before him, and his
blood seemed to turn to ice. _

“You wanted the mountain ov gold more
than you did D9. obert’s blood!" continued
Mohave. “Which 0 on want worst now?”

“ The blood ov Dago rt, 0v course I”.

A triumphant litter seemed to reheve the
deathly glare of ohave’s eyes.

“ Sw’ar it, Carlos.” _

“I do at the p’int ov my bewiel” was the
answer, and as he spoke Carlos Whipped out his
knife and held its int against his breast.

“Now. whar is e Mohave?” ‘

" Ef I knew I would hev been on his trail even
in the ﬁx I am. Find ’him! I ,hﬁl 22?, to
avenge' hev two ca n—me an an ,

The £153.?“ desper‘adoptottered from the wall

, ashe ﬂniShed; his strength seemineg harbored

for the scene he had just passed through anti:

 
.~\— {A

ly deserted him, and Carlos with a shudder
stepped asnde in order to avoid the blood wrist.
The next moment his companion lay at ' feet
a corpse, killed by De obert, not Helen.

The leader of the welve held the ﬂambeeu
near the contorted face into which he gazed
thoughtfully a moment; then he turned away
and sprung toward the natural stair.

“ I’m the last ov the three, ez I am ov the
Twelve!” he exclaimed. “ But the last shall be
ﬁrst, an’ the worst wolf in the pack.”

He went up the stone steps like a person ac-
customed .to them, and his torch was soon
throwing its light around and between the stone
pillars, that seemed to support the roof of the
room he had reached.

Carlos had aEparently entered a temple of
some kind, for t e pillars seemed carved out of
stone by human hands; but a close inspection
would have proved to any one that nature and
nature alone had planted them there in regular
order. He was in one of the wonderful caverns
of Arizona that was all.

His torch ﬂitted hither and thither like a
Jack—o’-lantern, but always in his hand. Now
he held it near the ground as if searchin for
Dagobert’s trail, and now carried it 'over ead
to reveal the recesses of the cave.

Suddenly he uttered a cry, and a moment
later he was examining the ﬂoor of the cavern.

The human bloodhound had discovered the ,
trail—a few dark spots on the stones.

“The wolf we caught among the Basaltic
Buttes is wounded!” he said, springing up.
“Mohave did not quite ﬁnish his war . Ill
ﬁnish it fur 'im. I’ve tracked manya door by
his blood, an’ more’n one man, too.”

The trail continued, - and Captain Carlos
threaded the cave with his vengeful eyes ﬁxed
upon it. Now and then his lips parted to let
through his ﬁerce mustache a sound like the
growl of a tiger. _

For a moment the mountain of gold had been
forgotten; Carlos saw only the handless body in
the cave below, and the b cod of the man who
had slain his Comrades.

The depths of the earth which he was travers-
ing seemed to be a perfect network of caves, for
the trail of blood led him from one apartment.
to another.

“ I know whar’ihe’s go‘ ’1” he suddenly ex-
claimed. “ I might ez we break sthight fur
it,” and i'emovin his eyes from the crimson
mark he increased his gait. -

A few minutes later Carlos crept under the
half-petriﬁed trunk of a tree, and stood in the
rosy ight of morning.

A wilderness of rocks and some grass sur:
rounded him, but the trail of blood was lost] -

He stood on the top of the banks of Navajo
Canyon. Not far ’away he could have looked
down into it by leaning Over the cliffs, but Car-
los did not think of doing this, forhis man-hunt-
ing eyes were riveted upon a ﬁgure which was
ﬁioving through a copse a long distance from

is ost. ‘ '

T is ﬁgure was no lar r than his band. but .
he knew that it was a uman beinga 91nd his
ﬁrst thought was of the man he was traihng.

“ I never lose a manlwhen I track him by his

blood!” he said, creeping away. “ I’ll keep the

‘J

 
26 The Boy Gold Hunter.

 
oath I took fur Mohave’s sake. By George!
Dagobert, you’ll l’arn pretty soon that the worst
man ov the three ar’ on yer track.”

Captain Carlos followed the ﬁgure which fate
or fortune had exhibited to his gaze. When he
reached the copse he found the prints or hoofs
on the narrow trail.

“ Whar did he git a hoes?” he asked himself
as he stared at the marks. “ He’s got the best
ov me fur the present; but I’ll soon hev the up-
per hand.” '

Half an hour later the captain of the Twelve
came almost suddenly upon a young girl seated
on a ma 'ﬂcent black steed. His surprise was
so comp etc that he s rung back with a moun-
Eain oath which ﬁx the eyes of the girl upon

1m. ‘
“ Ah! Captain Carlos!” she exclaimed. “The
man of all men I would meet here, and at this
moment. Don’t draw your revolvers! The one
I hold covers you, as on See! I have taken
one life since we par company, but I was
forced to do it. Don’t provoke me to shed our
blood. You will therefore iavor me by ta ing
your hands from your weapons.”

Captain Carlos hit his lip and his long arms
fell at his sides.

He was at Helen’s mercy.

 
CHAPTER XV.
DAGOBERT’S HATE.

NAVAJO NICK was not over cautious when he
told the Boss Cactus in plain words that he
would try him before investing him with any
conﬁdence. He was of course surprised to ﬁnd
the mountain sp his rescuer instead of Dago
bert, and he cou d not believe that the Cactus
was sincere in his expressions of hatred toward

. his old master.

“While he is being tried I will watch him
with a hawk’s eye," the young gold hunter said
to himselt; “ and at the ﬁrst treacherous move—
ment I will put a pistol—bullet through him. He
is after my secret—the one he lately thought he
had whipped out of me. If he is sincere now,
wig doesn’t he apologize for his brutal blows?"

n the subject of the forest whipping-post
the spy had not opened his mouth since the
rescue, and his silence served to make Nick

more sus icious. He did not breach the subject
~ himself, inferring the Cactus’s silence to the
falseh he might coin for his reply.

He told the spy. however all about the battle
between the Twelve and the Navajoes while
thgy were moving from the place of recog-
m on.

“I ity the boys, but the cap’n—curse him!”
said t e Cactus. ‘Ar’ you sart’in thet they
war the gold-huntin’ Injuns?”

“ The men said so.”

“Did you notice their arms?”

“I saw a d on several—between elbow
and shoulder.” '

“ The .red boys ov ther Buiiier Band!” ex-
claimed the Cactus.

“I know one thing; some of them were the
same ﬁends who tied me to Mahomet’s tail!”
Nick said grating his teeth. “ I had the satis-
faction o paying them back in a-measure. I
emptied tour sad es when they charged. Car-

\

 
los shot too fast for me.
be ﬂashing continually.”

“ Thet’s the way the cap’n allus shoots,” re-
plied the Cactus. “He kin empty more Injun-
saddles in ﬁve minutes than any man on earth.
One night among the Basaltic Buttes—”

Nick seized the spy’s arm.

“ Were you with them when they tied—Cap-
tain Flash to a wild horse?”

He was about to say Dagobert, but he sud‘
den! thought of his comrade’s instructions

“ ap’n Mash?” echoed the Cactus. “ Oh, he
hez two names, hez he? I don’t know about
him, but the man the three tied to the boss war
named Dagobert.”

“ Well, go on,” said Nick.

“ No, I warn’t jes’ thar, but the boss went by
me like a streak 0v greased lightnin’.”

“ Why did they treat him in that brutal man-
her?

“The sto is too Ion fur this time, an’ then
I couldn’t tel it 62 glib y ez the cap’n could of
he war talkative, with three horns ov Pimo
5 mp ahead. However, when' the three ot to
t e kentry ov the Buttes, they found this age-
bert thar, livin’ with his Injun Wife.”

Nick started.

“ An Indian wife?” he exclaimed.
spoke of her to me.”

“ I should reckon not,” smiled the Cactus.
“ An’ I’ll tell you why, nugget, fur I happen to
know. Dagobert then war ookin’ fur the same
thing he wants to ﬁnd now—the gold mountain.
Report located it someth among the buttes,
au’ the Injun wife thought she knew suthin
about the place.”

“He was too far north,” said Nick, hardly
knowing what he was saying, but the sudden
ﬂash of triumph in the Cactus’s eyes told him
that he must bridle his tongue.

“ The three pards were prospectin’ for the
mountain too, an’ one day they found Dago-
bert’s Injun wife alone. They tried to make her
give the secret away but she acted jes’ ez ef she
knew it but wou dn’t tell. They threatened
her, held their revolvers at her head but she
war game to the last. She war a tull~blooded
Navajo an’ ez gritty ez a anther. When they
found that she only look into their revolvers
an’ laughed, they threw a lasso round her neck
an’ pulled her up to a 10 that projected at one
corner ov the shanty.
her down, but she wouldn’t give anyt ing
away; then up ag’in she went. When they
lowered her a second time, she had got beyond
tellin’ anything. She war dead!”

“ Dead?” echoed Nick. “ The brutesi” '

Dagobert’s Injun wife, Winella, war too dead
to grin!” said the Cactus, irreverently. “ The
three pards left her thar, an’ it wa’n’t long
afore they had a lion on their track. But one
day jes’ at sundown they took Dagobert by sug-

rise, an’ tre ted him to the free ride you hev
eard 0v. y opinion hez allus been that fur

His pistols seemed to

“He never

their own good they should hev killed ’im. '1'

allus told the cap’n so, an’ he’ll be ov thet opin-
ion too afore he passes in his chips.”

Nick who had listened with devouring inter?

est to the Cactus’s homely narration of a scene

in Dagobert’s life,did not speak for several»

moments afterward.

  
rter aminute the let «

  
5‘s ‘

 
\. .

"w H

. man shot in the eye.

. secret.

The Boy Gold Hunter.) ' 27

“ The strangest thing of all is that Dagobert
once had an Indian wife,” he said.

“ Oh, thet’s ruther the st la in Arizony,” was
the answer. “ I’ve  be several myself. I’m
neither wife, maid, Widder, er bachelor; but a
man what hez decently planted the most Injun
wives of any man on the globe. Behold in the
Boss Cactus one who hez loved not wise] , per-
haps. but too often. Dagobert loved inella.
I discovered the cabin among the Basaltic
Buttes long afore the three pards ever set eyes
on it; an‘ from a sait’in )lace above it, I
watched it fur three weeks. know that Dago—
bert thought the world of thet red-skinned gal,
an’ when he found her dead, he fell down like a
The pards war fools fur
foolin’ with his affairs.”

“ One of them has paid for his share in the
crime ” said Nick.

“ M'onte? Mohave Bill hez paid a bit 0v in-
terest—one ov his hands. Dagobert will wipe
out the hull debt b an’ by. I’d ruther e
hunted by the hull avajo nation than by him.
But hevn’t you heard su'thin’ while I’ve been
talkin’?”

Thebo admitted that the narrative had so
engr his attention that no suspicious sounds
had assailed his ears.

“Wal, I’ve heard sounds,” said the Cactus,
drawing a revolvei. “ I’ll trot back a rod an
reconnmter." ,

“ I’ll go with you!” said the boy, but the spy’s
arm waved him 1:.

“ 1’11 0 alone,” he said. “ You’ve got the
t must not be lost. I know nothin’,
tharfore, I’m not ov much account.”

As the gaunt ﬁgure of the Boss Cactus glided
away, his treachery of the night when he re-
leased the carrier pigeon rose uppermost in the
gold hunter’s mind.

“He is going to perform another act of be—
trayal,” he said to himself. “ I have said that 1
would slay him if I found him treacherous. I
will catch him in the very act.”

Nick acted as he had done once before; he
crept after the Cactus with a cocked revolver in
his hand, fully resolved to ut a bullet into his
companion’s head it he caug t him in any ques-
tionable act.

“ Dagobert is not here to help me, therefore I
must take care of myself,” and then he added
with a smile; “ I guess I’m able to do that.”

Hiskeen eyes soon caught sight of the well-
known ﬁgure of the Armenian spy. He was
crouching against the trunk of a tree as if
watching something not far away.”

“ A confederate is coming to him,” muttered
Nick. “ After all I believe that he pretends to
hate Captain Carlos in order_ to discover my se—
cret the sooner; the rescue might have been un-
derstood. for I am conﬁdent that Carlos had
reached the belief that I would never lead him
and his men to the real mountain of gold.”

Nick had scarcely ﬁnished when the Boss Cac-
n to glide backward. “ Th

e

rose and bags .
mamas,» the boy heard him say.
red boys (W the Baffler Band ar’ on the right
trail at last. But they heV the BOSS Cactus t0
walk over afore they “Ch the Youngsl'e.“”
The boy’s heart increased its beatings. He
{at like grasping the hand of the man who had

 
« .

just said,in substance, that he would ﬁght for
him to the bitter end.

“ I believe I can trust him,” he murmured.

The next instant the ﬁgure of the Cactus
leaped Into the middle of the mountain pass,
ant Nick heard a blow and a groan.

“‘ One 0v my numerous brothers-in-law!”
eJaculatcd the spy. “ Whar ar‘ the other mem-
bers ov the family? Oh, I’m hyar—the Boss
Cactus ov Arizony, an’ every 5 inc is good fur
an I_nJun heart. Come onl l'l‘he boy an’ his

Jl‘CClOllS secret a1" safe while the ’re behind me.
on can git to’im while I stand yar.”

Nick admired the bravery of the man before
him. He leaped forward and clutched his arm.

“ I’m here to ﬁght with you i” he said.

“ You? I told you to stay backl This miss is
mine.”

H But_l1

“ You’re goin’ to stay back, too!”

And Nick was lifted from the ground and
borne swiftly from the spot.

“ Stay hyarl” the spy said, releasing him on
the spot where he had spun the tale of the
Besaltic Buttes. “ I’m goin" to do the ﬁghtin’,
an’ then I’ve got a right to vindercate myself in
yer mind.”

He rushed back before Nick could speak, and ’
the boy heard the almost continuous reports of
two revolvers accompanied by a number of wild
Indian yells.

“I can’t stay here!” he said. “A man who
ﬁghts for me must not ﬁght alone.”

“Stay hyar! Let ’im ﬁght his own battles!”
said a voice at his elbow.

Nick wheeled with an exclamation of amaze-
ment.

“ Dagobertl” he exclaimed.

“I thought I told you to call me Ca '11 Flash.
Yer memory seems to be failin’ you, 0y,” was
the stran ere ly. “Who’s yer para?”

“ The 055 actus”

Dagobert took a menacing step toward the

PY-

“Nol he rescued me from Captain Carlos,”
cried Nick, seizing his arm. “ I would not have
met you here if he had not saved me.”

Be obert halted.

“ I 1 give ’im credit fur thet on the note I
hold ag'm’ ’im an’ the rest!” he said.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE FATAL ARROW.
_ DURING this conversation, the frequent ﬂash-
lng of the Boss Cactus’s revolvers told that he
was holding his own against the Brethreuof
the Buffalo Band. Shielded by a hu e rock,
he brought down an Indian whenever eﬁred.
and the iron-tipped arrows and leaden balls
Sent at him in return, smote the barricade or _
passed harmless over the head of the intro id
desperado. Several of the ﬁrst-namedmlss es
{Jell get the feet of Dagobert and the young gold

an r.

“We’ll let the Cactus ﬁght his own battles.
He seems to be doin’ well. We‘re pards once
more, Nava'o: now fur the yellow Jacks !”

Navajo ick looked up to Dagobert’s face
and hesitated. He was really going to leave
lthe Cactus to contend alone with the red gold
eague.

 
\,

 
' \

28

 
“ He is doin’ us a favor by keepin’ the Injuns
at bay,” continued the Man with Two Names.
“ In my 0 inion, he ar’ actually makin’ us sure
of the go d mountain. Ef we meet ’im ag’in,
we’ll thank ’im; of we ﬁnd his bones. we’ll raise
a tombstun to his virtues. Come! the bonanza!
Now or never 1”

Dagobert’s hand encircled the young gold-
seeker’s wrist, and before he could make up his
mind to desert the Cactus, he found himself
dragged from the spot.

“ I’ve bed a time ov it since I saw you last,”
said Dagobert, and his eyes ﬂashed with wolﬁsh
triumph, as he continued: “ Thar’s only one
left out ov the three paras ov the Basaltic

Buttes.”
“ Onl one?" echoed Nick. “ Where is Mo-
have Bi ?"

“ Whar? I’ll show you thet mountain game-
cock Eresently,” was the reply. “ He couldn’t
help imself to the choicest b’ar—steak in Ari-
zona of it war lyin’ before him. We’ve hed our
last tussle, knife to knife, heart to heart! The
tate 0v Monte turned him into a tiger; he got
in a blow jes’ under my left shoulder, next door
to my life chest, an’ I went down seein' nothin’,

' wiped out, ez I thought. But the gal who saw
the tussle must hev given me a lift in the nick
0v time, fur I opened m eyes to ﬁnd Mohave
lyin’ on me, breathin’ 11 e a dyin’ ba’r. I felt
faint, kind 0’ dizzy like fur a while, but the
sight ov him fetched me around solid. What
did I do? Look that!”

Da obert had thrust his hand into his bosom
and ick was starting from the ghastly object
which had been taken therefrom.

It was a human hand, cold, and of course
lifeless!

“ It war the only one he had left, but I took
it l” said Dagobert in a’ heartless tone. “ Thet
hand did suthin’ once that made me its eternal
foe. Monte’sI nailed to the mountain shanty
whar the twelve used to congregate; but this
hand—the last one that Mohave Bill owned, I’m
going to throw into the face 0v the last of the
three who war thar!”

“ And so would I!” exclaimed Nick, recalling
the story that the Cactus had told. “ But,
where will we ﬁnd Captain Carlos?”

“ I don’t know exactly whar, but we’ll ﬁnd
him!” declared Dagobert, in au assurin tone.
“ I don’t hear the Cactus’s revolvers any anger.
I ass the tussle is over.”

t was true. They had not traversed very
far, but the reports of ﬁrearms were no longer
heard. Nick wanted to go back and ascertain
the fate of the desperado who had betrayed and
then befriendei him, but he did not make known
his wishes to Dagobert.

“You hevn’t seen the gal lately?” questioned
the Avenger, suddenly.

“I have not. The Cactus saw her just before
our ﬁght with the Indians. She was going to

“A boss gal!” averred Da obert. “She’s
worth her weight in gold. Nic , when we ﬁnd
the mountain ov old, Helen must bev a share.”

Did the boy bush? His eyes fell beneath
Dagobert’s gaze.

_ “ She’d make a real bonanza queen,” be con-
’ tinned. “ Nobody is left to care fur her now,

‘- try to rescue me from the Twelve.”

 
The Boy Gold Hunter.

onless—onless you kind 0’ look after her inter-
est. I mean hizness, boy.”

Nick did not answer for a moment.

“ We’ll give her a share in the ‘ ﬁnd,’ ” he an-
swered, at length.

“ 0v course! but she’ll be wantin’ a share 0v
suthin’ else,” answered the man from Mohave,
smiling at the young gold hunter’s confusion.
“ Thercl don’t look sheepish, Nick. When
we’ve got the mountain all to ourselves, you kin
turn yer attention to Cupid’s gold mine.”

The boy started and looked up. His look
seemed to say: “You are not the rough man
you seem to be, Dagobert.”

For the ﬁrst time during their acquaintance
the Avenger avoided the boy’s gaze; but all at
once he turned to him and spoke in atone which
he had not used before.

“You’re bound to ﬁnd me out," he said.
“ There was a time when I was not Dagobert,
the Avenger, nor Captain Flash the king of Mo-
have City. Whenever I speak of love, I am
carried back to that time. It was the golden
year of my life, even though my secondary oc—
cupation was gold-seeking. But wait until I
have settled with this last man! Then I will tell
you all.”

“ No use. I know all."

“ You! Who told you?”

“ The Cactus.” -

For a moment Dagobert seemed a marble
statue in the starlight as he stood speechless be-
fore the boy.

At last he said, slowly:

“ Well, haven’t I a right to the hands that
struck that day at the cabin in the Basaltic
Buttes?”

“I wouldn’t keep one of them from you if I
could, Dagobert,” was the reply.

The Man with Two Names stood a moment
longer in the position he had assumed, and
then bounded away with a mad oath on his

n no.
ick followed until his assion had cooled,
when he seemed to be himse f again.
“ We are almost back to our old rendezvous
in Navajo Canyon,” he said to his boy pard.
“Mohave Bill is keeping house down that in a

kind 0’ way. Now we reach a stage of our gold _

game where we ought to show each other our
hands. I am convinced of one thing; the moun-
tain isn’t among the Buttes. Tell me what you
know.” ,

It was now early daylight, and the two had
halted at the foot of a mountain.

The gold boy drew from beneath the folds of
his jacket 9. piece of colored paper. Dagobert's
eyes listened when they saw it.

” llS is the map of the precious region. I
got it from Alapatha, but not until he felt that
he was dying. The map may be his own work,
and it may not. You have :been all over
this “region, Dagobert. What can you make
out? ‘

Nick placed in his comrade’s hands the strange.

document which his eyes were already devour—
ing. Dagobert held it up as he turned his back
to the glowing eastern skies and, studied it in-
tently. At last he held in his hand a golden
secret for which he had planned and hunted
year in and year out.

 
Jansen». ‘

 
.M‘Iﬁ

 
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9 was"

 
..,‘..

 
The Boy Gold Hunter.

‘

89

 
“ It’s Injuu work,” rippled over his lips. “ I’ve
seen these kind 0’ ma s before. Hyar’s Na«
va'o Canyon our ﬁrst p int as you always said,
an the four crossed arrows must mean the

_ mountain of gold.”

-“ I think so,” said Nick.

“I know it! 1 see all now. The old chief’s
map is as Plain as day to me."

The god boy could not repress a cry of
trium h.

“A last!” he shouted as Da obert held the
map down for inspection. “ xplain to me,
Dagobert. Tell me how you discovered the
mystery ’8 solution.”

“ The e es of the Man with Two Names spark-
led like diamonds. His bronzed ﬁnger swooped
upon the map.

“ You see, boy— Jehosaphat!”

Well might Dagobert cut short his explana-
tion, and utter the startling cry that had
just fallen from his lips.

Nick sprung back with his companion and
the two whirled to the East. As for the map,
it was no longer held by Dagobert’s ﬁngers. It
lay on the ground ten feet away, perforated by
an Indian arrow three feet in length!

The shaft which had been intended for Dago-
bert’s neck had passed over his shoulder, and
pierced the plan of the region of gold.

Overhead stood the author of the almost
deadly shot. He held in his hand the heavy

' elk-horn bow of the Navajo brave, and his eyes

were staring at the man who had so miracu-
lous] escaped.

“gne of our enemies!” said Dagobert as his
pistol arm went up. “The band on his arm
tells the tale.”

“Shall we never escape them?”

“ Not until we have wiped out the last one.”

The Navajo saw the revolver of the white
man and hastened to ﬁt an arrow to the string;
but before either too could ﬁre the crack of a
ﬁrearm awake the echoes of the morning, and
the red-man pitched forward to fall at the gold
hunter’s feet.

Dagobert and Nick recoiled astonished, but
the former did not lower his revolver.

“ Wait!” he said. “ We’ve got the advantage
now. If the person who dropped the red-skin is
a foe, I’ll bring him down hyar before he takes
in the situation.”

Almost before Dagobert ceased speaking a
ﬁgure appeared on the very spot just vacated by
the Indian. v

“Ma I have wings!” he exclaimed bringin
the read weapon to his side again.’ “Lookgl
Nick. {wouldn‘t shoot at that target for an the
gold in Arizona!”

The 9 es of the Boy Gold Hunter were ﬁlled
with de 'ght. The ﬂ re_ on the Jutting rock
overhead possessed a amlliar contour; he threw
u his cap and shouted to attract its possessor’s
a ntion. d

An answeri .017 came ownward. and the
slayer of the In 11 disappeared. Nick’s heart
beat fast while he waited. and as a girl suddenly
'appeared emerging from a come a short distance,
away he went forward With 11 cry of happy

‘ “Eighties the wait of the mm.

 
She lanced at her victim as she advanced to
greet t e silent Dagobert.

“ You didn’t think that the Injun had ﬁred at
me, oh!” half—queried the Avenger.

“ No! I thought he was watching the man I
had just met.”

“ And he was-”

“ Captain Carlos!”

Nick shot a. glance at Dagobert. His eyes
were the eyes of the man-tiger; his face dark
and full of hate.

“ Where is he, Helen?"

“ Alas! I do not know now, but not far away,
I suspect. I accidentall met him, and having
tried to ﬁnd out somet ing about the where—
abouts of you two, I dismissed him. I held‘him
at my rovolver’s mercy, and although he do-
serves death for more crimes than one I spared
 ,i’or the man who has the best right to slay
11m.

“Good!” full from Dagobert’s lips. “ I am
that man! Now. let us go back to the map.
The gold hill ﬁrst; then the last of the three
parrls.”

The trio turned to the s ot where Da obert.
and Nick had lost Seen the ,Indian map; at it,
was not there!

For a. second their eyes seemed about to leap
from their heads! he arrow la on the
ground; but the plan—the precious ' gram—
had disappeared!

“A Wind took it oﬂf; but we’ll ﬁnd it!” said
the Man with Two Names.

The hunt for the missing map was extended
aye; the little valley in which the trio happened
All at once Dagobert stopped and pointed at
the ground. '

Nick and Helen ran up.

Tillfl‘e was before the Avenger a. human foot-
trac .

“ The map has passed beyond our hands I” an-
nounced the giant. “ It now belongs to the last
of the three pards.”

“ Not to Captain Carlos?” gasped our hero.

“To that same. But I think I kin ﬁnd the
mountain without it. I’ve got the map‘kind o’
photographed on my brain.”

N.“Eortune grant that you have i” murmured

ic .

 
CHAPTER XVII.
VENGEANCE AND SUCCESS.

DESPITE Dagobert’s assertion that he had the
lost diagram of the gold mountain “kind 0’
photographed” on his mind, there was another!
man who seemed to he on a surer trail. This’
was the person who held the map itself.

Near the close of a long summer day, one
week after. the events last recorded, the ﬁnder ’
of the “ 1113"“ map ” came out of a cave at the
base of a rugged mountain a few miles north of
NavaJo Can on. ,

He_ look the desperado that he really was.
A lpair of avaricious eye's glittered like aliasi-
lis ’5 above his wild uncombed beard. Th7:th
the triumphant look that leaps from the pet‘s
Giles when he stands over the game ﬁnally run
to earth. ‘

The man was Ca tain Carlos. The possessor
of a cunning min ,the strange marks onthe

  
30

 
map had been deci hered, and we need not dis—
guise the fact that e stood at the close of that
icular day at the door of the gold-mines

6 had explored as much of the interior of the
famous mountain as man could explore, and
his practiced eyes had dilated over the Golconda
of wealth which the old Indian’s secret hadat
last yielded to him.

He felt as the sole possessor of such a secret
would naturally feel. He was the last of the
Twelve, if we except the Cactus, who was but
n. sp , and at no time a regular member of the
bang; he was, too, the only survivor of the
Three Pards of the Basaltic Buttes against
whom the vengeance of a. human tiger had been
directed.

He stood for a moment at the mouth of the
cavern, his familiar ﬂ ure more than half con-
cealed by the bushes t at grew about him; tJen
he turned and disappeared.

At that moment a ﬁgure rose above some
mountain grass not far away, and two keen
eyes regarded the opening.

“ A cave, sure enough !" parted the lips of the
watcher. “ What of the captain hez struck the
boss bonanza? Shatter my photygraﬁ‘l of I
didn't always imagine it was somewhar in these
Barbs. Cactus, you’l jes’ take in the situation.

ut be cautious, old boy! The cap’n’s death
with the trigger." .

The speaker crept toward the cave like a
snake. When he reached it, he put a bowie be—
tween his teeth, drew two revolvers, and went
in.

Darkness enveloped him, but the Boss Cactus
guided himself through it by shoulder, which
touched an unseen wal .

“I don’t care so much fur the rocks myself.
I want the boy to hev a show. He didn’t trust
me even when I war holdin’, my own ag’in the
last ov the humor boys, an’ be guv me the slip.
But, when I kin hunt ’im up an‘ tell ’im thet
I’ve diskivered the mountain ov gold, why he’ll
take me fur a. pard. He’ll hev to!”

The Cactus executed a sudden halt, for the
ﬂash of a lucifer had pierced the darkness. The
light grew larger, and creeping forward he saw
Captain Carlos inspecting some stones which he
had taken from the wall.

The spy stood up and leaned forward with a
cocked revolver in his bronzed right hand. The
light of the torch revealed the stalwart ﬁgure
of the captain of the Arizonians, who saw
nothing but the precious quartz lying on his
broad band.

“He tumbled me from my boss—tried to
shoot me through the brain!” grated the Cac-
tus as he looked with eyes blazing with eternal

. hatred. “An’ all because I war goin’ to help
the gal—the boy’s pard. My time is hyar!
Every dog hez his day, cap’n, an’ the day 0v
the mastiﬂ ov Arizony ez come!"

The arm of the Boss Cactus was lifted and

[straightened the revolver hidden by the shadows
of the rocks beyond tbe‘torch’s light covered the
heart of Captain Carlos; but no report rung
through the cave of gold.

Something like a specter rose from the ground
at the spy’s feet, and a hand, certainly one of
ﬂesh fell on his outstretched arm.

“ 9 belongs to me, pard—to Dsgobert!” fell

The Boy Gold Hunter.

 
from the intruder’s lips. “ The mills ov ven-
geance grind slow, but the grist always gets
ground.” r

The Cactus lowered his weapon.

“ Ov course he b’longs to you l" he said. “ Do
what you please.”

Dagobert glided forward until he reached the
edge of the light. There he stopped and glared
for a moment at the man he had hunted.

“ Captain Carlos?” he called out.

The gold hunter turned. As he faced his foe
something traversed the space between them,
struck him in the face and fell to the ground.

“ In the ﬁrst place, look at my challenge!”
commanded Da obert.

Carlos lowere his torch and saw a dead hand
—the hand of Mohave Bill.

He raised his head with a half-growl, half-
oath, which delighted the man who seemed to
await his pleasure.

“ You know that hand Carlos?”

"‘ 0v course I do; an’f know who took it. I
want his heart.”

“ It is here!”

The eager Avenger. cleared the intervening
distance with a tremendous bound, and an ex-
clamation of horror fell from the sole spectator’s
lips as the men closed.

“ This for the tragedy at the cabin in the Be—
saltic Buttes!" accom anied the ﬁrst blow that

Dagobert struck with is bowie at the breast of I

his foe.

“ And this fur the hands of my hunted penis!"
was the answer.

For one awful minute the two giants battled
in the gold cave, watched by the gaunt spy who
with naked bowie, was read to leap forward
if the scales of battle shou d favor his late
leader.

Suddenly the combatants separated.

Da obert the Avenger stood alone, and at his
feet, is unhandsome features revealed by his
last torch, lay the stalwart form of the last sur-
vivor of the gold league of northern Arizona.

The Boss Cactus was about to jom the victor.

when he stoo over his foe. The spy kept his
Eosition, an from it saw the captain’s right
bgnd amputated by several quick strokes of the

me.
Drawing back for a moment Da obert gazed
trium hantly at the hideous trop y, and then
dashed) it into its owner's face!

“ I’ve keﬁt my oath.” he said. “ I have taken
from the t ree murderers the right handthat
slew their victim. Winella, you have been
avenged!”

“ An’ hyar’s a witness who will go afore any

squire in the
done.”

Dagobert icked up the torch and scrutinized
the Cactus y its light. The scorching look
was well borne.

“You were there that day?”,he said, almost
savagely.

“ Not exactly ther, but I know all about the
sarcumstance,”
couldn’t hev saved her ef I had tried.”

“ I believe you, Cactus,” he said.

The s v of the Mountain Twelve held out his
hand. agobert took it, but he relinquished it
abruptly- - ~

est, an’ sw‘ar that it war well

answered the Cactus. "“I

 
w.

wﬁJVw-vekiémy-

/

 
The Boy Gold Hunter.

    
81

 
“ I want to solve one doubt,” he said. .
Stooping over his last foe, he plunged his hand
into a pocket and produced a piece of colored

r.
I)a‘li'ml knew it!” he said, holding it up before the
Cactus. “ He found the map, just how or
where we may never know; but here it is, proof
that he got his ﬁngers on it. I didn’t have the
map hoto raphed on my mind as well as I
thong t. e’ve been huntin’ for this place
ever since we lost it; but we’re here at last;
at last!” '

“ This is the mountain of gold, then ?” queried
the Cactus. _

“ I haven’t inspected it, but we’ve found it,
Cactus. I’ll bet my life on ' ‘ ,

The two men thus bro "face, ex-
amined the interior of the. together.
Every now and then ejaculations of amazement
exam their lips; they looked like men who
had it suddenly transported into a mine of
pure gold, and Dagobert in an outburst of ex-
citement, would strike the Cactus on the back,
exclaiming: .

“ The old Injun knew gold when he saw it,
didn’t he, pard? Just think of the gold king
and queen this “ﬁnd” makes. What‘ll you
take for your share?"

“ I’ve guv it to the boy!” was the spy’s reply.
“ I’m oin’ to force ’im to believe that I kin be
trus in some matters)”

  
The next day a little company of tour persons,
went through the gold mine. That It»  a v‘

mine long since abandoned by a race of
who had passed away, Dagobert r ‘ ‘-
lieved. They saw evidences of such a thing all
around them. .

“ We may have to ﬁght for the prize yet,”
decided the Man with Two Names. “ The sur—
vivors of the Twelve and the Brethren of the
Buﬂt'alo Band will contest the ‘ ﬂnd’ with us."

The little party felt that the battle for the

gold mountain had begun; but as day were
away without brin 'ng any contestants for it
into the country, heir convictions gradually
ﬂed

Where the Nava‘oes had attacked the moun-
tain men lay the bodies of nine stalwart gold
hunters. The league was powerless to wrest a
prize from a child; as an organization it had
passed from life and from history.

Where the Cactus proved himself true to
Navajo Nick, ten savages lay dead on their
weapons. On the right _arm of each was the
distin ishing Sign of their league for gold,

H the spy exterminath the band? All,
perhaps, save the one shot from the rpck by the
wait of the train, and the spy killed in the can-
.0 _ ‘

3 2 ggweweeks since the leading paper of Tucson
contained the following paragraph which com-
manded widespread attention:

u n, known in the great Penth-
wes9°é§nfégiiﬂixlicri5ri§s returned from a visit to
the famous ‘ Helen ‘ Mine in the northern art of the
Territory. He reports everything lovely ‘that re-
gion. the Indians quiet, and a Vast Quantity of ore
on its way East. Our readers are familiar with the

ling Colonel‘s adventures while hunting the mine,

ey will recall the deeds of the young lady who

  
was strangely thrown into his compan during those
stirring days. therefore, they will no he sur rised
to learn that ‘ Gold Nick ' is on his way to San ran-
cisco, where the lady is, there to be one of the high
contracting parties in a. notable wedding soon to
occur. Vi e congratulate the colonel in advance."

We are at a loss to determine the nature of
the serVice that brought Navajo Nick amilitary
title, but on his ﬁrst visit to the chief cit of
Arizona after the character of his “ﬁnd ” ad
become known, he was greeted as “ Colonel” by
the many who sought his acquaintance.

The Boss Cactus of Arizona still insists that
he is “one of the lost arts," and is one of the
Rfomivnent features connected with the “Helen

Hie.

Dagobei't—Dagobert the man, who hunted
gold and human hands at the same time—re-
mains at the scene of his last triumph, helping
to enrich, more than himself, the handsome
youth who won from the old Navajo chief the
secret of gold.

Let us take leave of them here with Winella
avenged, the secret known to the world and .
with the red and white gold lea es of the
Southwest baﬂled—deadi—literal y extermi—
nate .

 
THE END.

 
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mummmmmwwmmmmmwmmwmwvéféﬁzﬁq

91 Must“ Sam, the King ul'thc Plains. liy Jm:
Ihidu-ar. . r.
92 The "can" Bloodhound; or, The Rail Finite! or
the L'm‘ihlnres. liy Sinuuizl \\'. I‘vnrcv.
98 I’ll“ llnrdy, the liuns liny. lly win-n .‘lurris.
94 "outlwood luck «as llctectlve. liy h‘. l..\‘v‘h»ei«r.
95 Ruth Burkrum; or, has. iha Fuumlu 'l'rnppur.
Hf! Cnptnin J. F, (7. Aduum.
96 Cat-Edged lblck, the Sport. Detective. By E. L.
’ \er: er.
9‘? The “luck Steed of the Prairie». By James
L. Bowen.
98 The Sou Serpent: or. The Boy Robinson Crusoe.
By Juun Lewis.
.99 Bonanza Bill. the Mnn Tracker. lly E. L. \Vlmclm'.
100 Not Todd: or, The hum of the Sioux (Iuptivu.
Edward S. Ellis.
101 During- lhn'y; the Yuung Benr Kilhgr.
Si. George.
102 The Yellow (lhl 4'. By Capt. Mnym- Raid
l“rl 5,... . lly Edward 1.. \l'hceh -.
-L ﬁchooncr. liy Rum-r Suntan”...
llurry, the lluotblacli Detuullvd.
llll'l-S
106 nght-llnw
By .11». E. t}:
10'? Juvk “o.
Hy Edmund 1.. “'lumlvr.
108 Rm-ky .Vlouniuln Klt. By TIT. Hurhnugh.
109 ’l he Branded "Ind; nr, l‘ne Mun ul Mysleuy.
ll Frnuk Dunn-Ht.
110 T e Dread Rider; 01’, Thu Trxnu Duelist. By
George) \V. Bruwne.
111 Ron llob. the King fnwtbhwku. Byl‘1.I..\\'hhe'cr.
_ . . 1‘ ‘ ﬁlthan Raid.
8 Sour-Face ‘ ‘

1141mm ruins ‘ ‘ , 

Arrnw of the Adlr-mdné’m. B .1 n ..‘
y B’v' @th

115 Deadwood lilok’n Double

1:,

‘Klt; or, this Dunghler ul’tlw litmuh.
n. »

1w ,[abez chm... 5.1 per; "r, Lust. tn t'he minim»;

By Capt. I“. Whitmwr,

117 Fain-y I‘Lrﬁirk, olCnlumdo. lly llou. w. 1*. Cody.-
] _.

“ Butfulo
118 Will “’lldl‘lre, the'l‘lmrnughlmed. By 01...... Mnrris.
119 Blondc “111‘: or, Deadwood Dick’s Home Busu.
‘ By Edwnrd L. ‘hceler.
120 Gopher Gld, the Boy ’l‘ruppvr. By 'I‘. C. Huhuuxlx.
121 ﬂurry Armstrong, the (‘np’nln n . .0 Club. By
Brucehridgu Hemyniz. (.lnck Hurhu )
123 The Hunted lluntcr. iiv I'I-h n i S. Ellis.
123 Solid Sum, Lllu linv kund-Auant. lly ll). L. Win-char.
1 Lynch. n: ..r. Tllu llny Virgin-dc. 19y
' . C. Hurlmugli.
125 The Lund l’lruten. lly f‘npl. )luyn r livid.
126 Blue Blazes; or, The than). 0’ 1)in my. uf 11ml.)-
sr. llv Frnnk Dnmnnt.
12’: Tony Fox, the Farrel; or, [10.5 Bull’s llnss .lub. ' lly
Edward L. When-ler.

138 Black Benn, Will Wildﬁrv’s Ric-w. IBV C. Morris. l

1”” Eagle K“, the Imy Dom-m. l£_\ (ill Funnies.
180 Gold Trigger, tlH-Spnrt. ny 'r. v. llul‘liuiiull.
181 A Game of Gold; nr. Dendwuufl Dick’s Big
Strika. liy Edwnrd L. “huh-r.
182 Dalnty Lam-e, n... 1:... Sport. By J. E. limlgi-r,.lr.
138 \‘Vllildlre. lllt "min at llli: Rmul. liy‘ lv'rnnk llnnuml.
184. Mike Mel‘r ~. u.» Hill'lml'l’nlll'v.Buy. lin. Mums.
185 lll‘eudlwomll ﬁhlck of Dcmlwood. 15y Eiwmu
- let Ol'.
130 Old Ru c, thalluntsr. By (ant. llmnilton Hnlmen.
181’ Dandy lock, the Man from Tums. By G. Wnldo

ro‘V'IB.
133 Bob Ronkett, the Bm hmlgur. By Chris. l‘llrrin.
189 The Black Glnnt- or, Dainty Lnnue in Junluinly.
By Jon h E. Bridger, r.
140 On tn II Arizona, the King l’in of Rnnd-Agunu.
Byf’hlli S. Wnrne. ‘
14l New lork Nell, the Buy-Girl Dutuctivu. liy
Edvard L. When-liar.
1433 thtle Texanthe Ynunz Miislungvr. lly Oil (funnies.
143 Dcudly Ills—h: or, Fighting Firu with Fire. liy
Jns. E. Bridger, Jr. ,
144 Little Grit. um Wild Rider;or,Bri B,d]uSlm—'l£
’l‘endcr‘s Dang! hvr. By (Jul. Yrmiiins lngmhmn.
145 The Tiger of Thou. By Gen Waldo llron-ue.
'146 The Battle Klng. By]?er Dumont.

lly ‘
By llnrry

‘ 162 Little llnrrlenno, the Boy Cnptuln.

r. . I.
e'u Lend; or, The Young: Spccu ulm'.

mum, .

 
qij‘bim' tn; jg :n’m €15 :hTrzTé'i VT {3: W757}: :1:th

, I43~ Nohby Nlt-l‘ ol'Nevudn. By Edward L. “’heeler.

148 Thunderbolt 'l‘oln. lSy llnrry St. (Jeni-gr.

lJl) Ifol) Inn-kc", the lluilk Runner; nr,T|Ic Road to
lluiu. tSy (hm)... Murrlu.

150 Tl Mud Mlner; ur,Dnndy Ruth’s Doom. By

E (i. \\'nl4ln llmu‘ne.

15:1 The Sen ’l‘ruller; or, A Vow Well Kept. By
l‘nl. Prentiss lllui‘ullulli.

152 llnndy llnrhe: 01', The 'l'igcrsul‘lligh Pine.
Wi lllﬂl nyt‘

153 Wild ‘3'
Wins..in gr;

By
:Mskin Bravo. By Edwnrd L.

154 The Buff!" H3013 Dninty Lance an the
\K'iix—Pnih. B'I- ‘ ' ‘ udgar, Jr.

155 Gold I , the Boy Bnmlit; or, The Kid-Glove
5pm, l'.\ (H. i'm.1i~~ lugrulmm.

By C. Morris.

1 6 “l” “’lldllrt- In the “'oodn.
1 7 Neil ’l‘olnplh llln- “irl'llﬂr 150v ﬂy '1'. C. llnrlmngh.
1 MW liondn‘oml INNS» Do! I By B. L. Whorlsr.

159 l'utent-Lcuilwr Joc‘r- oft-at. liy Philip. S.

Night.
160 lit-11:10 Bllly, mu llny Unllwlinrlier. By Col. P.
u

 “h '
)6], noh‘nockeﬂ, Elm Crncksnmn; nr, Drivyn lo the
\ml. ny Chm... Morris.
By ()ll
Cumin-s.

163 lEendwood Dlrk’! Droum: or, This Rivnls of
the limid. By Edward L. Whrclul.

16-1 Tornado Tom: M, lhjun .lnck fruit) Rod Cure.
liy 'l'. (1 llnrbnngli.

165 Bull'ulu lllll’n Bet. 13y (‘01. l‘rcnliss lmrrnlmm.

165 Will “'lldllre “in: and Loses. By Charles
_ urns.

167.1111“! Rock’s Pledge. 13' George \V. Browne.

’ '7 9*de Dlek’n “'urd; or The Blnck 11'“
Q' aelzel. .By Edward L. \Vheulcr. , I I

169 TheBoy Chumplou; or, Dutch Herman of the

‘ Mulklngnm.’ By Edward Willem.

170 Bob Rockett’i Fight for Lll'e.
Morris. V

171 Frank Morton, the Boy Hrmules. Ry Oil Counsel.

172 The Yankee Ranger. By Edwin Emerson.

173 "ll-k Dlnﬂle, Scout; or, The Frnntlcr Angel. By
lﬂlw/Il'd S. Ellis.

I74 Dandy Rock’s Scheme. By G. W. Brnwnm

1??) The Arab 1). tot-live. By Edwurd L Wheeler.

176 “'lll WIldﬂre’I Pluck; unTbc Hidden Huud'
liy Chnrlus Morris.

17’? Tthuy Commander. BndiJ'mdilslngruhum.

178 The . {unhn- Hunter. liy Burlun Snxu.

179 Du Ity Lum'e: or, The Mystic .\ nrksmnn. By
Just E. l3nilgl¢r,Jr.

1!“! The Roy Gold-"nut er. liy T. C. Hsrbnngh. ‘

M1 The Haunt-lune» Sun; or, Two Bmthen’ leu in
Nuw ank. lty Clini'lrx .uurris.

132 The Burk - Hum-d Scout. By Liuut. Col‘
llnzwllln‘. Ruddy July 6.

1M} Juhcz hurt, Di-teciivu. By 011 Coomus.
Ru dy nlv in.

184 Fouthorwclzht, the Buy Spy. By Edward Wlllult.
lr-mly July 1‘0.

185 “hon Bill. thn- Overland Prince.
lngruhuni. Rome July 27.

180 Dulnty Lnnoe and "In Purd.
Budgur, Jr. Rmdy August. 3.

Issued Every Wednenulay.
llohdle’n l’ucket lerury is for uni: by I" News.
drillers, ﬁvu Czull per copy, or nut by mail on recoipt nf six
cunts lunch. ‘
BEADLE & ADAMS. Puhllnherm'
98 William Street, New York.

By Charles

By Cnl. Prentiss

By Joseph E.